The Ergative System in Balochifrom a Typological Perspective

For the western iranian languages the transition from the old iranian to themiddle-iranian period is characterised by – among other things – the loss ofword-final syllables. this loss had a far-reaching impact on the nominal and verbal systems since it caused the loss of categories which had been expressed by suffixes. the consequences include the emergence of the so-called ergative system.although descriptions of the ergative construction in balochi do exist, there is no treatment yet which takes into account the material of the different dialects. furthermore, the ergative construction in balochi has been compared with data from old iranian, but not with data from middle iranian languages,and the development from the middle iranian stage to the different types found for the western iranian languages the transition from the old iranian to themiddle-iranian period is characterised by – among other things – the loss ofword-final syllables. this loss had a far-reaching impact on the nominal andverbal systems since it caused the loss of categories which had been expressed by suffixes. the consequences include the emergence of the so-called ergative system.although descriptions of the ergative construction in balochi do exist, there is no treatment yet which takes into account the material of the different dialects. furthermore, the ergative construction in balochi has been compared with data from old iranian, but not with data from middle iranian languages,and the development from the middle iranian stage to the different types found.