Three Things You Need In Your Life

[sabinelagrande]

1. Fans of dance music, mashups, or textual poaching in general: Bootie Magazine has released the new Best of Bootie, its yearly mashup compilation, which is once again awesome. And it's free! I particularly recommend "Party & Bullshit (In the USA)" and "Shut Up and Take Me Out"; also of note is "It's My Life Confessions, Pt. II", the all-Glee

Comments

[seekergeek]

Nap! Nap is excellent. *snoozes*

[dreamwaffles]

Thanks for the ASL translations, that's awesome. I've been wanting to learn sign language, and, well, this might not be the *best* place to start but it's certainly fun. :P

Speaking of languages, do you happen to know what an ergative language is? I've read the wikipedia article like five times but still don't really understand it. >.

[sabinelagrande]

Actually, one of the languages I work with (K'iche' Maya) is an ergative language.

So, think about it this way: In English, we treat intransitive verbs and transitive verbs the same way, as in:

I slept (intransitive)
I slapped him (transitive)

In ergative languages, there's a distinction made between the "subjects" of intransitive verbs and transitive verbs. The subject of an intransitive verb is called a subject, but the subject of a transitive verb is called an agent. So:

I(subject) slept
I(agent) slapped him(object)

In English, we mark subjects and agents the same way, but in ergative languages, objects and subjects are marked the same way. So, if English were ergative:

Me(subject) slept
I(agent) slapped him(object)

Or in a real example:

Xatwarik (you slept)
Katinloq'oj (I love you)
Kinaloq'oj (You love me)

That's all ergativity means. It's actually really simple, but people like to complicate it.

[dreamwaffles]

Oh, that makes so much more sense!

So, in that vein, would "he slept" become "him slept"?

Thanks for explaining it to me! :D I've only ever taken French, which definitely isn't ergative.

[sabinelagrande]

Yep! Him slept, them slept, us slept, etc.

No problem! It's one of those things that makes most people run for the hills, so, like, I'm all set to explain ergativity at all times. :D