Tripartite language
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A tripartite language, also called an ergative-accusative language, is one that treats the subject of an intransitive verb, the subject of a transitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb each in different ways. If the language has morphological case, the arguments are marked in this way:
- the agent of a transitive verb takes the ergative case
- the object of a transitive verb takes the accusative case
- the subject of an intransitive verb takes the intransitive case
In Nez Percé, the ergative-case suffix is -nim, the accusative suffix is -ne, and intransitive arguments take no suffix.
Languages lacking case inflections may distinguish these roles with distinct word order.
Tripartite languages are rare. Besides Nez Perce, they include Wangkumara and Kalaw Lagaw Ya. Several constructed languages, especially engineered languages, use a tripartite case system or tripartite adposition system.
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