The distinction between "patient" and "agent" is a semantic one, while the distinction between "object" and "subject" is (primarily) a formal/syntactic one. These two distinctions thus concern different "levels" of analysis.Chagen wrote:
I see your point, but Pazmat tends to view things in terms of "patient" and "agent", not "object" and "subject". To a native speaker that sentence wouldn't be viewed as an Absolutive object and an Ergative subject.
When you say that the Pazmat don't tend to view things in terms of "object" and "subject", do you intend to say that the very between subject and object does not exist/does not make sense in Pazmat?