Svetlana Berikashvili (Göttingen)
Ergative in Georgian: Inherent or Structural?
The main question addressed in the presentation is whether the Georgian ergative is an inherent or structural case? Existing accounts of the Georgian ergative provide arguments to support both views. I show that there are problems for both perspectives and it is often not very clear what the nature of Georgian ergative is. Partially this happens because not all diagnostics to test structural vs non-structural case are available for Georgian. The most problematic issue concerns Georgian unergatives, which assign ergative case, but are not associated with agentive theta-position, have no volitional control over the process of the action, and lack the second NP in the structure. Still, most of the provided arguments in the presentation, such as the usage of the ergative with theme arguments, the ability to control agreement, case alternations, etc. lead to the conclusion, that Georgian ergative is structural case.