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Concept
Verbe ergatif
Résumé
In general linguistics, a labile verb (or ergative verb) is a verb that undergoes causative alternation; it can be used both transitively and intransitively, with the requirement that the direct object of its transitive use corresponds to the subject of its intransitive use, as in "I ring the bell" and "The bell rings." Labile verbs are a prominent feature of English, but they also occur in many other languages.
The terminology in general linguistics is not stable yet. Labile verbs can also be called "S=O-ambitransitive" (following R.M.W. Dixon's usage), or "ergative", following Lyons's influential textbook from 1968. However, the term "ergative verb" has also been used for unaccusative verbs, and in most other contexts, it is used for ergative constructions.
Most English verbs can be used intransitively, but ordinarily this does not change the role of the subject; consider, for example, "He ate the soup" (transitive) and "He ate" (intransitive), where the only difference is that the latter does not specify what was eaten. By contrast, with a labile verb the role of the subject changes; consider "it broke the window" (transitive) and "the window broke" (intransitive).
Labile verbs can be divided into several categories:
Verbs suggesting a change of state — break, burst, form, heal, melt, tear, transform
Verbs of cooking — bake, boil, cook, fry
Verbs of movement — move, shake, sweep, turn, walk
Verbs involving vehicles — drive, fly, reverse, run, sail
Some of these can be used intransitively in either sense: "I'm cooking the pasta" is similar to both "The pasta is cooking" (as an ergative verb) and "I'm cooking", although it is clearly more informative than either.
Unlike a passive verb, a nominalization, an infinitive, or a gerund, which allow the agent to be either excluded or included, the intransitive form of a labile verb normally requires the agent to be excluded:
"The window was broken" or "The window was broken by the burglar."
"[...] to break the window [...]" or "[...] for the burglar to break the window [.
Source officielle
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