Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases (Feature 58)
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Feature Annotation
Alignment refers to the comparison between the marking of the A (transitive agent/subject) argument and the P (transitive patient/object) argument with the marking of the S (intransitive subject) argument.
In this feature only case-marking/adpositional marking of full NPs is considered. (Word order is ignored; see Feature 1; person marking on the verb is also ignored.)
If case-marking/adpositional marking is optional or variable, it should be counted in the same way as if it were obligatory and invariant.
Additional remarks
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Values
| Value | Value Annotation | |
| 1 | Neutral | A, P and S are coded in the same way (generally zero = no case/adpositional marking), e.g. English. |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Nominative–accusative (standard) | A is coded like S (often zero), P is coded differently (with accusative case). |
| 3 | Nominative–accusative (marked nominative) | A is coded like S, but is non-zero, while P is coded with zero. |
| 4 | Ergative–absolutive | P is coded like S (generally zero), A is coded differently (with ergative case). |
| 5 | Tripartite | A, P and S are all coded differently. |
| 6 | Active–inactive | Two types of S: agent-like S is coded like A, and patient-like S is coded like P. |
| 7 | Other | (Please give details in the “General comments” field.) |
WALS No.
98 (Total)
