en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergative%E2%80%93absolutive_alignment
1 correction found
the subjects in Latin are marked with the nominative case marker "-us" for both transitive and intransitive verbs. Similarly, the object is always marked with the accusative marker "-um".
This overgeneralizes from one declension. Latin nominative subjects are not always marked with -us, and accusative objects are not always marked with -um; Latin noun endings vary by declension, gender, and number.
Full reasoning
The article's example words dominus/servum use one common second-declension pattern, but the prose states that pattern as if it were true for Latin nouns in general.
That is incorrect. In Latin, case marking depends on a noun's declension and sometimes gender/number:
- First-declension nouns have nominative singular -a and accusative singular -am (for example, carta / cartam).
- Second-declension masculine nouns can have nominative singular -us, -er, or -ir; only one subclass uses -us.
- Third-declension nouns have various nominative forms, and masculine/feminine accusative singular is typically -em (for example, rex / regem).
So while -us and -um are valid endings for some nouns, they are not the universal Latin markers for subjects and objects. The sentence should be limited to the specific example nouns or rewritten to describe Latin case more generally.
3 sources
- Nouns - Latin
First declension nouns end '-a' in the nominative singular... Accusative -am... Second declension nouns ending '-us', '-ir' and '-er' are masculine... Third declension nouns... Nominative various... Accusative -em.
- Lesson 3 - Second declension nouns, to be - Latin
Second declension nouns... masculine and ends in '-us', '-er' or '-ir'... Some are neuter and end in '-um'.
- Lesson 7 - Third declension nouns and adjectives - Latin
You cannot identify third declension nouns in the nominative because they have various forms and spelling... Endings for Masculine and Feminine nouns: Nominative various... Accusative -em.