Copula (linguistics)
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Cleanup lang
In linguistics, a copula (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Plural form: copulas or copulae; abbreviated Template:Smallcaps) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word is in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase was not being in the sentence "It was not being cooperative." The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a "link" or "tie" that connects two different things.<ref>See copula in the Online Etymology Dictionary for attestation of the use of the term, "copula", since the 1640s.</ref><ref>See the appendix to Moro 1997 and the references cited there for a short history of the copula.</ref>
A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case.<ref name="Pustet">Template:Cite book</ref> A verb that is a copula is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. In English primary education grammar courses, a copula is often called a linking verb. In other languages, copulas show more resemblances to pronouns, as in Classical Chinese and Guarani, or may take the form of suffixes attached to a noun, as in Korean, Beja, and Inuit languages.
Most languages have one main copula (in English, the verb "to be"), although some (such as Spanish, Portuguese and Thai) have more than one, while others have none. While the term copula is generally used to refer to such principal verbs, it may also be used for a wider group of verbs with similar potential functions (such as become, get, feel and seem in English); alternatively, these might be distinguished as "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas".
Grammatical function
[edit]The principal use of a copula is to link the subject of a clause to a subject complement. A copular verb is often considered to be part of the predicate, the remainder being called a predicative expression. A simple clause containing a copula is illustrated below:
The book is on the table.
In that sentence, the noun phrase the book is the subject, the verb is serves as the copula, and the prepositional phrase on the table is the predicative expression. In some theories of grammar, the whole expression is on the table may be called a predicate or a verb phrase.
The predicative expression accompanying the copula, also known as the complement of the copula, may take any of several possible forms: it may be a noun or noun phrase, an adjective or adjective phrase, a prepositional phrase (as above), or an adverb or another adverbial phrase expressing time or location. Examples are given below, with the copula in bold and the predicative expression in italics:
The three components (subject, copula and predicative expression) do not necessarily appear in that order: their positioning depends on the rules for word order applicable to the language in question. In English (an SVO language), the ordering given above is the normal one, but certain variation is possible:
- In many questions and other clauses with subject–auxiliary inversion, the copula moves in front of the subject: Are you happy?
- In inverse copular constructions (see below) the predicative expression precedes the copula, but the subject follows it: In the room were three men.
It is also possible, in certain circumstances, for one (or even two) of the three components to be absent:
- In null-subject (pro-drop) languages, the subject may be omitted, as it may from other types of sentence. In Italian, Template:Lang means Template:Gloss, literally Template:Gloss.
- In non-finite clauses in languages such as English, the subject is often absent, as in the participial phrase being tired or the infinitive phrase to be tired. The same applies to most imperative sentences such as Be good!
- For cases in which no copula appears, see Template:Slink below.
- Any of the three components may be omitted as a result of various general types of ellipsis. In particular, in English, the predicative expression may be elided in a construction similar to verb phrase ellipsis, as in short sentences such as I am; Are they? (where the predicative expression is understood from the previous context).
Inverse copular constructions, in which the positions of the predicative expression and the subject are reversed, are found in various languages.<ref>See Everaert et al. 2006.</ref> They have been the subject of much theoretical analysis, particularly in regard to the difficulty of maintaining, in the case of such sentences, the usual division into a subject noun phrase and a predicate verb phrase.
Another issue is verb agreement when both subject and predicative expression are noun phrases (and differ in number or person): in English, the copula typically agrees with the syntactical subject even if it is not logically (i.e. semantically) the subject, as in the cause of the riot is (not are) these pictures of the wall. Compare Italian Template:Lang; notice the use of the plural Template:Lang to agree with plural Template:Lang Template:Gloss rather than with singular Template:Lang Template:Gloss. In instances where an English syntactical subject comprises a prepositional object that is pluralized, however, the prepositional object agrees with the predicative expression, e.g. "What kind of birds are those?"
The definition and scope of the concept of a copula is not necessarily precise in any language. As noted above, though the concept of the copula in English is most strongly associated with the verb to be, there are many other verbs that can be used in a copular sense as well.<ref name="Givon">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="EG">Template:Cite web</ref>
- The boy became a man.
- The girl grew more excited as the holiday preparations intensified.
- The dog felt tired from the activity.
And more tenuously<ref name="Givon" /><ref name="EG" />
- The milk turned sour.
- The food smells good.
- You seem upset.
Other functions
[edit]A copular verb may also have other uses supplementary to or distinct from its uses as a copula. Some co-occurrences are common.
Auxiliary verb
[edit]The English verb to be is also used as an auxiliary verb, especially for expressing passive voice (together with the past participle) or expressing progressive aspect (together with the present participle):
Other languages' copulas have additional uses as auxiliaries. For example, French Template:Lang can be used to express passive voice similarly to English be; both French Template:Lang and German Template:Lang are used to express the perfect forms of certain verbs:
In the same way, usage of English be in the present perfect, though archaic, is still commonly seen in old texts/translations:
The auxiliary functions of these verbs derived from their copular function, and could be interpreted as special cases of the copular function (with the verbal forms it precedes being considered adjectival).
Another auxiliary usage in English is to denote an obligatory action or expected occurrence: "I am to serve you". "The manager is to resign". This can be put also into past tense: "We were to leave at 9". For forms such as "if I was/were to come", see English conditional sentences. (By certain criteria, the English copula be may always be considered an auxiliary verb; see Diagnostics for identifying auxiliary verbs in English.)
Existential verb
[edit]The English to be and its equivalents in certain other languages also have a non-copular use as an existential verb, meaning "to exist". This use is illustrated in the following sentences: I want only to be, and that is enough; I think therefore I am; To be or not to be, that is the question. In these cases, the verb itself expresses a predicate (that of existence), rather than linking to a predicative expression as it does when used as a copula. In ontology it is sometimes suggested that the "is" of existence is reducible to the "is" of property attribution or class membership; to be, Aristotle held, is to be something. However, Abelard in his Dialectica made a reductio ad absurdum argument against the idea that the copula can express existence.<ref>Kneale – Kneale 1962 and Moro 1997</ref>
Similar examples can be found in many other languages; for example, the French and Latin equivalents of I think therefore I am are Template:Lang and Template:Lang, where Template:Lang and Template:Lang are the equivalents of English "am", normally used as copulas. However, other languages prefer a different verb for existential use, as in the Spanish version Template:Lang (where the verb Template:Lang Template:Gloss is used rather than the copula Template:Lang or Template:Lang Template:Gloss).
Another type of existential usage is in clauses of the there is... or there are... type. Languages differ in the way they express such meanings; some of them use the copular verb, possibly with an expletive pronoun such as the English there, while other languages use different verbs and constructions, such as the French Template:Lang (which uses parts of the verb Template:Lang Template:Gloss, not the copula) or the Swedish Template:Lang (the passive voice of the verb for "to find"). For details, see existential clause.
Relying on a unified theory of copular sentences, it has been proposed that the English there-sentences are subtypes of inverse copular constructions.<ref>See Moro 1997, and "existential sentences and expletive there" in Everaert et al. 2006, for a detailed discussion of this issue and a historical survey of the major proposals.</ref>
Meanings
[edit]Predicates formed using a copula may express identity: that the two noun phrases (subject and complement) have the same referent or express an identical concept:
They may also express membership of a class or a subset relationship:
Similarly they may express some property, relation or position, permanent or temporary:
Essence versus state
[edit]Some languages use different copulas, or different syntax, to denote a permanent, essential characteristic of something versus a temporary state. For examples, see the sections on the Romance languages, Slavic languages and Irish.
Forms
[edit]In many languages the principal copula is a verb, such as English (to) be, German Template:Lang, Mixtec Template:Lang,<ref name="Pustet2003Mixtec">Template:Cite book</ref> Touareg emous,<ref name="Stassen" /> etc. It may inflect for grammatical categories such as tense, aspect and mood, like other verbs in the language. Being a very commonly used verb, it is likely that the copula has irregular inflected forms; in English, the verb be has a number of highly irregular (suppletive) forms and has more different inflected forms than any other English verb (am, is, are, was, were, etc.; see English verbs for details).
Other copulas show more resemblances to pronouns. That is the case for Classical Chinese and Guarani, for instance. In highly synthetic languages, copulas are often suffixes, attached to a noun, but they may still behave otherwise like ordinary verbs: Template:Lang in Inuit languages.
In some other languages, such as Beja and Ket, the copula takes the form of suffixes that attach to a noun but are distinct from the person agreement markers used on predicative verbs.<ref name="Stassen">Template:Cite book</ref> This phenomenon is known as nonverbal person agreement (or nonverbal subject agreement), and the relevant markers are always established as deriving from cliticized independent pronouns.
Zero copula
[edit]Template:Main In some languages, copula omission occurs within a particular grammatical context. For example, speakers of Bengali, Russian, Indonesian, Turkish, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, Geʽez and Quechuan languages consistently drop the copula in present tense: Bengali: Template:Lang, Aami manush, 'I (am a) human'; Russian: Template:Lang, Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss; Indonesian: Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Turkish: Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Hungarian: Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Arabic: Template:Lang, Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss; Hebrew: Template:Lang, Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss; Geʽez: Template:Lang, Template:Transliteration / Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss / Template:Gloss; Southern Quechua: Template:Lang Template:Gloss. The usage is known generically as the zero copula. In other tenses (sometimes in forms other than third person singular), the copula usually reappears.
Some languages drop the copula in poetic or aphoristic contexts. Examples in English include
- The more, the merrier.
- Out of many, one.
- True that.
Such poetic copula dropping is more pronounced in some languages other than English, such as the Romance languages.
In informal speech of English, the copula may also be dropped in general sentences, as in "She a nurse" or "They not like us." It is a feature of African-American Vernacular English, but is also used by a variety of other English speakers. An example is the sentence "I saw twelve men, each a soldier."<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref>
Examples in specific languages
[edit]In Ancient Greek, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article, the copula is understood: Template:Lang, "the house is large", can be written Template:Lang, "large the house (is)."Template:Citation needed
In Quechua (Southern Quechua used for the examples), zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular (Template:Lang): Template:Lang Template:Gloss; but: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.Template:Citation needed
In Māori, the zero copula can be used in predicative expressions and with continuous verbs (many of which take a copulative verb in many Indo-European languages) — Template:Lang, literally Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss; Template:Lang, literally Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss; Template:Lang, literally Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss, Template:Lang, literally Template:Gloss, Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Alternatively, in many cases, the particle Template:Lang can be used as a copulative (though not all instances of Template:Lang are used as thus, like all other Māori particles, Template:Lang has multiple purposes): Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
However, when expressing identity or class membership, Template:Lang must be used: Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
When expressing identity, Template:Lang can be placed on either object in the clause without changing the meaning (Template:Lang is the same as Template:Lang) but not on both (Template:Lang would be equivalent to saying "it is this, it is my book" in English). <ref>Template:Citation</ref>
In Hungarian, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular and plural: Template:Lang/Template:Lang — Template:Gloss / Template:Gloss; but: Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss. The copula also reappears for stating locations: Template:Lang Template:Gloss, and for stating time: Template:Lang Template:Gloss. However, the copula may be omitted in colloquial language: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
Hungarian uses copula Template:Lang for expressing location: Template:Lang Template:Gloss, but it is omitted in the third person present tense for attribution or identity statements: Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss; Template:Lang Template:Gloss (but Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Gloss).
In Turkish, both the third person singular and the third person plural copulas are omittable. Template:Lang and Template:Lang both mean Template:Gloss, and Template:Lang and Template:Lang both mean Template:Gloss. Both of the sentences are acceptable and grammatically correct, but sentences with the copula are more formal.
The Turkish first person singular copula suffix is omitted when introducing oneself. Template:Lang Template:Gloss is grammatically correct, but Template:Lang (same sentence with the copula) is not for an introduction (but is grammatically correct in other cases).
Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example, in the Irish language, Template:Lang, the present tense of the copula, may be omitted when the predicate is a noun. Template:Lang, the past/conditional, cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the pronoun (e.g., Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang) preceding the noun is omitted as well.
Copula-like words
[edit]Sometimes, the term copula is taken to include not only a language's equivalent(s) to the verb be but also other verbs or forms that serve to link a subject to a predicative expression (while adding semantic content of their own). For example, English verbs such as become, get, feel, look, taste, smell, and seem can have this function, as in the following sentences (the predicative expression, the complement of the verb, is in italics):
(This usage should be distinguished from the use of some of these verbs as "action" verbs, as in They look at the wall, in which look denotes an action and cannot be replaced by the basic copula are.)
Some verbs have rarer, secondary uses as copular verbs, such as the verb fall in sentences such as The zebra fell victim to the lion.
These extra copulas are sometimes called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For a list of common verbs of this type in English, see List of English copulae.
In particular languages
[edit]Indo-European
[edit]In Indo-European languages, the words meaning to be are sometimes similar to each other. Due to the high frequency of their use, their inflection retains a considerable degree of similarity in some cases. Thus, for example, the English form is is a cognate of German Template:Lang, Latin Template:Lang, Persian Template:Transliteration and Russian Template:Transliteration, even though the Germanic, Italic, Iranian and Slavic language groups split at least 3000 years ago. The origins of the copulas of most Indo-European languages can be traced back to four Proto-Indo-European stems: Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang and Template:Lang (Template:Lang).
English
[edit]The English copular verb be has eight basic forms (be, am, is, are, being, was, were, been) and five negative forms (ain't (in some dialects), isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> No other English verb has more than five forms. Additional archaic forms include art, wast, wert, and occasionally beest (as a subjunctive). For more details see English verbs. For the etymology of the various forms, see Indo-European copula.
The main uses of the copula in English are described in the above sections. The possibility of copula omission is mentioned under Template:Slink.
A particular construction found in English (particularly in speech) is the use of two successive copulas when only one appears necessary, as in My point is, is that....<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref> The acceptability of this construction is a disputed matter in English prescriptive grammar.
The simple English copula "be" may on occasion be substituted by other verbs with near identical meanings.
Persian
[edit]In Persian, the verb to be can take the form of either Template:Transliteration (cognate to English is) or Template:Transliteration (cognate to be).
Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss
Hindustani
[edit]In Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), the copula Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang can be put into four grammatical aspects (simple, habitual, perfective, and progressive) and each of those four aspects can be put into five grammatical moods (indicative, presumptive, subjunctive, contrafactual, and imperative).<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref> Some example sentences using the simple aspect are shown below:
| Hindi | Urdu | Transliteration | English | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Indicative | Present | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss |
| Perfect | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
| Imperfect | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
| Future | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
| Simple Subjunctive | Present | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss |
| Future | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
| Simple Presumptive Present | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
| Simple Contrafactual Past | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Transliteration | Template:Gloss | |
Besides the verb Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss, there are three other verbs which can also be used as the copula: Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss, Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss, and Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang Template:Gloss.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite book</ref> The following table shows the conjugations of the copula Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Lang in the five grammatical moods in the simple aspect. The transliteration scheme used is ISO 15919.
Romance
[edit]Template:Main Copulas in the Romance languages usually consist of two different verbs that can be translated as "to be", the main one from the Latin Template:Lang (via Vulgar Latin Template:Lang; Template:Lang deriving from *es-), often referenced as Template:Lang (another of the Latin verb's principal parts) and a secondary one from Template:Lang (from *sta-), often referenced as Template:Lang. The resulting distinction in the modern forms is found in all the Iberian Romance languages, and to a lesser extent Italian, but not in French or Romanian. The difference is that the first usually refers to essential characteristics, while the second refers to states and situations, e.g., "Bob is old" versus "Bob is well." A similar division is found in the non-Romance Basque language (viz. Template:Lang and Template:Lang). (The English words just used, "essential" and "state", are also cognate with the Latin infinitives Template:Lang and Template:Lang. The word "stay" also comes from Latin Template:Lang, through Middle French Template:Lang, stem of Old French Template:Lang.) In Spanish and Portuguese, the high degree of verbal inflection, plus the existence of two copulas (Template:Lang and Template:Lang), means that there are 105 (Spanish) and 110 (Portuguese)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> separate forms to express the copula, compared to eight in English and one in Chinese.
| Copula | Language | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italian | Spanish | Portuguese | English | |
| Template:Lang-derived | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss |
| Template:Lang-derived | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss |
In some cases, the verb itself changes the meaning of the adjective/sentence. The following examples are from Portuguese:
| Copula | Example 1 | Example 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | Spanish | English | Portuguese | Spanish | English | |
| Template:Lang-derived | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss |
| Template:Lang-derived | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss | Template:Lang | Template:Lang | Template:Gloss |
Slavic
[edit]Some Slavic languages make a distinction between essence and state (similar to that discussed in the above section on the Romance languages), by putting a predicative expression denoting a state into the instrumental case, and essential characteristics are in the nominative. This can apply with other copula verbs as well: the verbs for "become" are normally used with the instrumental case.
As noted above under Template:Slink, Russian and other North Slavic languages generally or often omit the copula in the present tense.
Irish
[edit]In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, there are two copulas, and the syntax is also changed when one is distinguishing between states or situations and essential characteristics.
Describing the subject's state or situation typically uses the normal VSO ordering with the verb Template:Lang. The copula Template:Lang is used to state essential characteristics or equivalences.
Template:Lang Template:Gloss (lit. Template:Gloss) Template:Lang Template:Gloss (lit. Template:Gloss)
The word Template:Lang is the copula (rhymes with the English word "miss").
The pronoun used with the copula is different from the normal pronoun. For a masculine singular noun, Template:Lang is used (for "he" or "it"), as opposed to the normal pronoun Template:Lang; for a feminine singular noun, Template:Lang is used (for "she" or "it"), as opposed to normal pronoun Template:Lang; for plural nouns, Template:Lang is used (for "they" or "those"), as opposed to the normal pronoun Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
To describe being in a state, condition, place, or act, the verb "to be" is used: Template:Lang Template:Gloss<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Arabic dialects
[edit]North Levantine Arabic
[edit]The North Levantine Arabic dialect, spoken in Syria and Lebanon, has a negative copula formed by Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration and a suffixed pronoun.<ref name="Brustad-Negation">Template:Cite book</ref>
| Negative copula in Levantine<ref name="Brustad-Negation" /> | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| 1st person (m/f) | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | |
| 2nd person | m | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration |
| f | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | ||
| 3rd person | m | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration |
| f | Template:Wikt-lang Template:Transliteration | ||
Bantu languages
[edit]Chichewa
[edit]Template:Main In Chichewa, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Malawi, a very similar distinction exists between permanent and temporary states as in Spanish and Portuguese, but only in the present tense. For a permanent state, in the 3rd person, the copula used in the present tense is Template:Lang (negative Template:Lang):<ref>Maxson, Nathaniel (2011). Chicheŵa for English Speakers: A New and Simplified Approach. Assemblies of God Literature Press, Malawi, pp. 107, 108, 110.</ref><ref>*Stevick, Earl et al. (1965). Chinyanja Basic Course. Foreign Service Institute, Washington, D.C., pp. 157, 160–65.</ref>
For the 1st and 2nd persons the particle Template:Lang is combined with pronouns, e.g., Template:Lang Template:Gloss:
For temporary states and location, the copula is the appropriate form of the defective verb Template:Lang:
For the 1st and 2nd persons the person is shown, as normally with Chichewa verbs, by the appropriate pronominal prefix:
In the past tenses, Template:Lang is used for both types of copula:
In the future, subjunctive, or conditional tenses, a form of the verb Template:Lang Template:Gloss is used as a copula:
Muylaq' Aymaran
[edit]Uniquely, the existence of the copulative verbalizer suffix in the Southern Peruvian Aymaran language variety, Muylaq' Aymara, is evident only in the surfacing of a vowel that would otherwise have been deleted because of the presence of a following suffix, lexically prespecified to suppress it. As the copulative verbalizer has no independent phonetic structure, it is represented by the Greek letter ʋ in the examples used in this entry.
Accordingly, unlike in most other Aymaran variants, whose copulative verbalizer is expressed with a vowel-lengthening component, -:, the presence of the copulative verbalizer in Muylaq' Aymara is often not apparent on the surface at all and is analyzed as existing only meta-linguistically. However, in a verb phrase such as "It is old", the noun Template:Lang Template:Gloss does not require the copulative verbalizer: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
It is now pertinent to make some observations about the distribution of the copulative verbalizer. The best place to start is with words in which its presence or absence is obvious. When the vowel-suppressing first person simple tense suffix attaches to a verb, the vowel of the immediately preceding suffix is suppressed (in the examples in this subsection, the subscript "c" appears prior to vowel-suppressing suffixes in the interlinear gloss to better distinguish instances of deletion that arise from the presence of a lexically pre-specified suffix from those that arise from other (e.g. phonotactic) motivations). Consider the verb Template:Lang, which is inflected for the first person simple tense and so, predictably, loses its final root vowel: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
However, prior to the suffixation of the first person simple suffix Template:Lang to the same root nominalized with the agentive nominalizer Template:Lang, the word must be verbalized. The fact that the final vowel of Template:Lang below is not suppressed indicates the presence of an intervening segment, the copulative verbalizer: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
It is worthwhile to compare of the copulative verbalizer in Muylaq' Aymara as compared to La Paz Aymara, a variant which represents this suffix with vowel lengthening. Consider the near-identical sentences below, both translations of "I have a small house" in which the nominal root Template:Lang Template:Gloss is verbalized with the copulative verbalizer, but the correspondence between the copulative verbalizer in these two variants is not always a strict one-to-one relation.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
La Paz Aymara: Template:Lang Muylaq' Aymara: Template:Lang
Georgian
[edit]As in English, the verb "to be" (Template:Transliteration) is irregular in Georgian (a Kartvelian language); different verb roots are employed in different tenses. The roots Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration (past participle) are used in the present tense, future tense, past tense and the perfective tenses respectively. Examples:
Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss
In the last two examples (perfective and pluperfect), two roots are used in one verb compound. In the perfective tense, the root Template:Lang (which is the expected root for the perfective tense) is followed by the root Template:Lang, which is the root for the present tense. In the pluperfective tense, again, the root Template:Lang is followed by the past tense root Template:Lang. This formation is very similar to German (an Indo-European language), where the perfect and the pluperfect are expressed in the following way:
Template:Lang Template:Gloss, literally Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Gloss, literally Template:Gloss
Here, Template:Lang is the past participle of Template:Lang Template:Gloss in German. In both examples, as in Georgian, this participle is used together with the present and the past forms of the verb in order to conjugate for the perfect and the pluperfect aspects.
Haitian Creole
[edit]Haitian Creole, a French-based creole language, has three forms of the copula: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and the zero copula, no word at all (the position of which will be indicated with Ø, just for purposes of illustration).
Although no textual record exists of Haitian-Creole at its earliest stages of development from French, Template:Lang is derived from French Template:IPA (written Template:Lang), which is the normal French contraction of Template:IPA (that, written Template:Lang) and the copula Template:IPA (is, written Template:Lang) (a form of the verb Template:Lang).
The derivation of Template:Lang is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was Template:IPA ("he/it is", written Template:Lang), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as Template:IPA (typically written Template:Lang).
The use of a zero copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian-Creole was first developing as a Romance-based pidgin. Latin also sometimes used a zero copula.
Which of Template:Lang/Template:Lang/Ø is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in the following four rules:
1. Use Ø (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:
Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear
2. Use Template:Lang when the complement is a noun phrase. But, whereas other verbs come after any tense/mood/aspect particles (such as Template:Lang to mark negation, or Template:Lang to explicitly mark past tense, or Template:Lang to mark progressive aspect), Template:Lang comes before any such particles:
3. Use Template:Lang where French and English have a dummy "it" subject:
4. Finally, use the other copula form Template:Lang in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:
The above is, however, only a simplified analysis.<ref>Howe 1990. Source for most of the Haitian data in this article; for more details on syntactic conditions as well as Haitian-specific copula constructions, such as Template:Lang (It's run I progressive run; "I'm really running!"), see the grammar sketch in this publication.</ref><ref>Valdman & Rosemond 1988.</ref>
Japanese
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The Japanese copula (most often translated into English as an inflected form of "to be") is unique among verbs in Japanese. It is highly irregular, and in several ways behaves in ways other verbs do not; such as requiring a separate relativised form in some circumstances, and acting simply as a marker of formality/politeness with no predication force in some circumstances. In the most basic case, it behaves like a normal verb with irregular forms, which (like most copulas crosslinguistically) takes a non-case-marked complement instead of an object.
Template:Fs interlinear Template:Fs interlinear
As with all verbs in Japanese, it is necessary to mark the speaker's implied social relationship to the addressee by the choice of verb form. The following two sentences differ only in the fact that the first is appropriate only between decently close friends or family, or said by someone of significantly higher social status than the listener, and the second is only appropriate outside of such circumstances.
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss
Japanese has two classes of words which correspond to adjectives in English, one of which requires a copula to become a predicate and one of which does not.
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss *Template:Lang *Template:Transliteration Invalid, as Template:Transliteration is its own predicate and does not need a copula to make it a predicate
However, the polite copula Template:Transliteration is used as a means to mark the self-predicating class of adjectives as grammatically formal, and thus the formal equivalent of Template:Transliteration is Template:Transliteration. In these situations, the copula is not serving as an actual predication device; it is only a means to supply formality marking.
The non-self-predicating class of adjectives is the one place in modern Japanese where a separate relativiser form appears; these require the form Template:Transliteration in order to modify nouns.
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss *Template:Lang *Template:Transliteration Invalid, as this class of adjectives cannot just be placed next to a noun to modify it *Template:Lang *Template:Transliteration Invalid, as the copula form Template:Transliteration requires a specially marked form when it heads a relative clause, unlike all other verbs in modern Japanese
Etymologically the copula is a reduced form of Template:Transliteration, which effectively means 'exists as'; in formal situations Template:Transliteration or its formal form Template:Transliteration can appear in place of Template:Transliteration or Template:Transliteration, and in certain situations other forms of Template:Transliteration may be appropriate (such as Template:Transliteration/Template:Transliteration). Nonstandard forms such as Template:Lang Template:Transliteration in Kansai and Template:Lang Template:Transliteration in much of the rest of western Japan (see map above) are due to various dialects reducing Template:Transliteration differently than the Kantō-based standard form did.
The negative form of the copula is generally Template:Transliteration or its reduced form Template:Transliteration (or in formal situations, substitute Template:Transliteration for Template:Transliteration). This includes the topic marker Template:Transliteration, due to negative copula sentences typically implying some kind of contrastive topic-like force on the complement. Template:Transliteration can occur in relative clauses, where information structure marking might be odd, but Template:Transliteration is also a general negative copula and would be sensible still in any situation Template:Transliteration might be used.
Many sentences in Japanese are structurally a headless relative clause nominalised by Template:Transliteration (or its reduced form Template:Transliteration) and then predicated with a copula; the structure is analogous to something like English it's that.... This structure is used to indicate that the statement is intended to answer a question or explain confusion a listener may have had (though the question it answers may not have ever been overtly spoken). This has largely been incorporated into Japanese's sentence-final particle system, and is far more common than the equivalent English structure.
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss
Similarly, Template:Transliteration has also been recruited into the sentence-final particle system, and is used to mark a sentence that the speaker should have been decently obvious to the listener, or to indicate that the speaker is surprised to find that the sentence is true. In this role it can cooccur with an actual predicative Template:Transliteration, but not with the positive Template:Transliteration; Template:Transliteration is omitted in such sentences.
Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss (differs from "It's not tomorrow" only by intonation; Template:Transliteration as a sentence-final particle is not a separate phonological unit while as a negative copula it is) Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss
Korean
[edit]For sentences with predicate nominatives, the copula Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration) is added to the predicate nominative (with no space in between).
Some adjectives (usually colour adjectives) are nominalized and used with the copula Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration).
1. Without the copula Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration):
2. With the copula Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration):
Some Korean adjectives are derived using the copula. Separating these articles and nominalizing the former part will often result in a sentence with a related, but different meaning. Using the separated sentence in a situation where the un-separated sentence is appropriate is usually acceptable as the listener can decide what the speaker is trying to say using the context.
Chinese
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In Chinese, both states and qualities are, in general, expressed with stative verbs (SV) with no need for a copula, e.g., in Chinese, "to be tired" (Template:Lang Template:Transliteration), "to be hungry" (Template:Lang Template:Transliteration), "to be located at" (Template:Lang Template:Transliteration), "to be stupid" (Template:Lang Template:Transliteration) and so forth. A sentence can consist simply of a pronoun and such a verb: for example, Template:Lang Template:Transliteration (Template:Gloss). Usually, however, verbs expressing qualities are qualified by an adverb (meaning "very", "not", "quite", etc.); when not otherwise qualified, they are often preceded by Template:Lang Template:Transliteration, which in other contexts means "very", but in this use often has no particular meaning.
Only sentences with a noun as the complement (e.g., "This is my sister") use the copular verb "to be": Template:Lang-zh. This is used frequently; for example, instead of having a verb meaning "to be Chinese", the usual expression is "to be a Chinese person" (Template:Lang-zh; Template:Abbr Template:Gloss; Template:Gloss). This Template:Lang-zh is sometimes called an equative verb. Another possibility is for the complement to be just a noun modifier (ending in Template:Lang-zh), the noun being omitted: Template:Lang-zh
Before the Han dynasty, the character Template:Lang-zh served as a demonstrative pronoun meaning "this" (this usage survives in some idioms and proverbs.) Some linguists believe that Template:Lang-zh developed into a copula because it often appeared, as a repetitive subject, after the subject of a sentence (in classical Chinese we can say, for example: "George W. Bush, this president of the United States" meaning "George W. Bush is the president of the United States).<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref> The character Template:Lang-zh appears to be formed as a compound of characters with the meanings of "early" and "straight."
Another use of Template:Lang-zh in modern Chinese is in combination with the modifier Template:Lang-zh Template:Transliteration to mean "yes" or to show agreement. For example:
Question: Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:GlossTemplate:PbResponse: Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss, meaning "Yes", or Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss, meaning "No."
(A more common way of showing that the person asking the question is correct is by simply saying "right" or "correct", Template:Lang Template:Transliteration; the corresponding negative answer is Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss.)
Yet another use of Template:Lang-zh is in the shì...(de) construction, which is used to emphasize a particular element of the sentence; see Template:Slink.
In Hokkien Template:Lang-zh Template:Transliteration acts as the copula, and Template:Lang-zh Template:IPA is the equivalent in Wu Chinese. Cantonese uses Template:Lang-zh (Template:Lang-zh) instead of Template:Lang-zh; similarly, Hakka uses Template:Lang-zh Template:Transliteration.
Siouan languages
[edit]In Siouan languages such as Lakota, in principle almost all words—according to their structure—are verbs. So not only (transitive, intransitive and so-called "stative") verbs but even nouns often behave like verbs and do not need to have copulas.
For example, the word Template:Lang refers to a man, and the verb Template:Gloss is expressed as Template:Lang Template:Gloss. Yet there also is a copula Template:Lang Template:Gloss that in most cases is used: Template:Lang Template:Gloss.
In order to express the statement Template:Gloss, one has to say Template:Lang. But, in order to express that that person is THE doctor (say, that had been phoned to help), one must use another copula Template:Lang Template:Gloss:
In order to refer to space (e.g., Robert is in the house), various verbs are used, e.g., Template:Lang (lit., Template:Gloss) for humans, or Template:Lang Template:Gloss for inanimate objects of a certain shape. "Robert is in the house" could be translated as Template:Lang, whereas "There's one restaurant next to the gas station" translates as Template:Lang
Constructed languages
[edit]The constructed language Lojban has two words that act similar to a copula in natural languages. The clause Template:Lang turns whatever follows it into a predicate that means to be (among) what it follows. For example, Template:Lang means "to be Bob", and Template:Lang means "to be one of the three sisters". Another one is Template:Lang, which is itself a predicate that means all its arguments are the same thing (equal).<ref>Lojban For Beginners Template:Webarchive</ref> One word which is often confused for a copula in Lojban, but is not one, is Template:Lang. It merely indicates that the word which follows is the main predicate of the sentence. For example, Template:Lang means "my friend is a musician", but the word Template:Lang does not correspond to English is; instead, the word Template:Lang, which is a predicate, corresponds to the entire phrase "is a musician". The word Template:Lang is used to prevent Template:Lang, which would mean "the friend-of-me type of musician".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]Citations
[edit]General references
[edit]- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book (See "copular sentences" and "existential sentences and expletive there" in Volume II.)
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Moro, A. (1997) The Raising of Predicates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
- Template:Cite book
- Tüting, A. W. (December 2003). Essay on Lakota syntax. Template:Webarchive.
- Template:Cite book