Both. It's common, AND it's a separate issue. There is a certain amount of abusive behavior that happens just due to the obliviousness of alcoholism. It's almost incidental to it, not usually malicious, and often goes away if the alcoholic gets sober. It might feel abusive to the person on the receiving end, but I think it's different from someone who has an abusive nature.
Then there is abuse in the sense of domestic violence type abuse, which can be verbal, emotional, psychological, financial, or physical (or all of those). That is a TOTALLY separate thing from the alcoholism, though drinking lowers inhibitions and might make it worse. People who are true abusers do not generally become non-abusers when they get sober. In fact, they may become more COMPETENT abusers.