Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

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

From:Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...>
Date:Friday, June 30, 2000, 14:29
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