Nominative-accusative? Ergative-absolutive? What do these mean?

In language introduction essays done on this website, you might see these kinds of terminology thrown about without further elaboration given to them. For example, in some languages of Australia, you might have seen ergativity being used, as with the essay on Naukan Yupik and Chukchi. But what are these systems, and what kinds of … Continue reading Nominative-accusative? Ergative-absolutive? What do these mean?

What happened to Bulgarian’s grammatical cases?

Down by the Black Sea, lies the country of Bulgaria, the primary home of the Bulgarian language. Rather closely related to Macedonian, this Slavic language is part of what is known as the Balkan sprachbund, an ensemble of generally common features shared by languages spoken in the Balkans, like grammar, vocabulary, and phonology. What sets … Continue reading What happened to Bulgarian’s grammatical cases?