Re: All-noun langs, was: Syntaxy-Turvy

On Fri, 30 Jun 2000 10:34:30 +0200, Christophe Grandsire
<Christophe.Grandsire@...> wrote:

>At 10:59 29/06/00 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>I think some of these variants would be possible even with 'zero
>>morphology'.
>>
>
>I've heard of some languages that could use zero-copula constructions with
>prepositional phrases, allowing for sentences like "I to Paris" for "I go
>to Paris", making zero-copula sentences in fact active! So zero-copula
>sentences really are not restricted! I've read that this construction was
>possible in Russian. Am I right Vasiliy?
Only in locative meaning: _Ja v Parizhe_ 'I am in Paris'. Besides,
Russian omits the copula only in the present tense, so I don't think
it can be considered as a real zero-copula lang.

But if a language like Russian (or Arabic) had developed constructions
like 'I am before/after doing smth.' to replace other tenses, I think
it would become a real zero-copula lang.

I also toyed some time ago with other possible meanings of zero copula
besides 'to be', including 'to do/make', 'to have', 'to belong to',
'to be made/done by', etc. But I didn't have patience enough to build
any big project.


Basilius