Re: Copulas

At 07:27 PM 3/9/99 -0800, JOEL MATTHEW PEARSON wrote:
>So how do copular constructions work in other people's conlangs?
>
>Matt.
>
An interesting and complex question.  With one exception (the Indo-European,
or perhaps Nostratic, conlang that I mentioned rather vaguely several months
ago, which I'm still not ready to talk more specifically about), none of my
conlangs has a single general-purpose copular verb corresponding closely to
English "be".

As I see it, "be" (and Indo-European copular verbs generally) have four
distinct functions.  (And there may be others that I haven't thought of.)
In other words, there are four different types of declarative sentence that
all have the form "X is Y".  In all four types, X is a noun phrase, but Y is
a different type of constituent in each of them.

Type 1:  Y is an adjective, and the sentence is an assertion that X has the
attribute denoted by Y.  Example: "The house is white."  (The "descriptive
copula"?)

Type 2:  Y is a prepositional phrase or other adverbial denoting a location,
or something that's at least a metaphorical extension of the notion of
location, and the sentence is an assertion that X is at the location denoted
by Y.  Example: "John is in the house."  (The "locative copula"?)  [Note:
Some variant of this is used in most of my conlangs -- as, I gather, in the
majority of natlangs -- to express predicative possession ("X belongs to Y"
or "Y has X").]

Type 3:  Y is an indefinite NP denoting a class of entities, and the
sentence is an assertion that X is a member of the class denoted by Y.
Example: "John is a doctor."  (The "classifying copula"?)

Type 4:  Y is a definite NP, and the sentence is an assertion that X and Y
are coreferential.  Example: "John is the man we saw in the library
yesterday."  (The "identifying" or "equative copula"?)

Hwendaaru uses a separate construction for each of these functions.  (Well,
not exactly.  Type 1 is split between two constructions, one of which is
also used for type 3, so the number comes out the same.)

There are two constructions for the Type 1 copula because many of the
attribute-denoting words in Hwendaaru that correspond to Indo-European
adjectives are stative verbs rather than adjectives.  For these verbs, no
special construction is needed; each of them is in itself the equivalent of
an IE copula-plus-adjective, e.g., _hanta eglenta_ =3D "the man is happy".

hant-a   eglent-a
man- DSA happy- 3SA

To use such a verb attributively (as a modifier of a noun), a participle is
used: _eglentima hanta_ =3D "the happy man".

eglent-im-  a   hant-a
happy- PART-DSA man- DSA

[In these and the following examples, DSA means "definite singular animate"
(a nominal definiteness/number/gender suffix) and 3SA means "third-person
singular animate" (a verbal person/number/gender agreement suffix).
Likewise, DSI and 3SI mean "definite singular inanimate" and "third-person
singular inanimate", respectively.]

For "real" adjectives, Hwendaaru uses a predicative suffix to turn them into
stative verbs, e.g., _hanta tsaamiyaa_ =3D "the man is old" (cf. _tsaama
hanta_ =3D "the old man").

hant-a   tsaam-iya-  a
man- DSA old-  PRED-3SA

In general, adjectives denote attributes that are perceived as inherent or
permanent, and verbs denote those that are perceived as contingent or
temporary, but there are a number of exceptions to this.

For the Type 2 copula, Hwendaaru uses a verb _daa_ which I call the
"locative copula".  For example, _hanta klaathurelme daa_ =3D "the man is in
the house".

hant-a   klaath-u-  relme da-     a
man- DSA house- DSI-INESS be(LOC)-3SA

For the Type 3 copula, Hwendaaru uses the same predicative suffix mentioned
above, but attached to a noun stem instead of an adjective stem, e.g.,
_hwenta teina hantiyaa_ =3D "my friend is a man".

hwent-a   tein-  a   hant-iya- a
my-   DSA friend-DSA man- PRED-3SA

For the Type 4 copula, Hwendaaru uses an equative suffix.  (I just coined
that term on the spot.)  For example, _hwenta teina klaathurelme daimang
hantalya_ =3D "my friend is the man in the house".

hwent-a   tein-  a   klaath-u-  relme da-     im-  a-  ng  hant-a-  aly-a
my-   DSA friend-DSA house- DSI-INESS be(LOC)-PART-DSA-OBL man- DSA-EQU-3SA

The equative suffix is homophonous (and may be homologous) with the habitual
aspect suffix.

In Meitzanathein, verbs with the stative aspect suffix _-ya_ are used for
all four types of copula.  [Any noun or adjective can be used as a verb
simply by using verbal affixes (tense, mood, aspect) instead of, or in
addition to, nominal affixes (definiteness, number, case).]

Type 1:  _tainathiz fekya_ =3D "the man is dead"

tai-   nath-z   fek- ya
person-male-DEF dead-STAT

Type 2:  _tainathiz karzenya_ =3D "the man is at the house"

tai-   nath-z   kar-  z-  en- ya
person-male-DEF house-DEF-LOC-STAT

Type 3:  _gedzu hyarya_ =3D "the book is a gift"

ged- z   hyar-ya
book-DEF gift-STAT

[Note:  This could also mean "the book has been given".]

Type 4:  _bashi gedzi peshu kore hyarim, haz hyashya_ =3D "That's the book
that you gave me".

bash-i   ged- z-  i   pesh-u   kor-e   hyar-im   haz  hyash- ya
REL- ACC book-DEF-ACC you- ERG me- DAT give-PAST that CORREL-STAT

[Meitzanathein forms relative clauses in the same way as Hindi, using two
parallel clauses with a relative pronoun in one, a correlative pronoun in
the other, and the head noun in whichever one comes first.  Thus, a
word-for-word translation of the sentence above would be something like:
"Which book you to me gave, that thing that book is."]

Naya Vandi (which is related to Meitzanathein even though typologically it's
very different) doesn't use an actual verb for any of the four copula types,
but simply uses tense/mood particles to mark the appropriate adjective, noun
or prepositional phrase as a predication.  Thus:

Type 1:  _ta nasataya wa lenya_ =3D "the man is old"

ta     nasa-  taya wa      lenya
DEF:SG person-male PRESENT old

Type 2:  _ta nasataya wa la siya ta kala_ =3D "the man is in the house"

ta     nasa-  taya wa      la siya   ta     kala
DEF:SG person-male PRESENT at inside DEF:SG house

Type 3:  _ta kenaya wa nasataya_ =3D "the speaker is a man"

ta     ke-      naya  wa      nasa-  taya
DEF:SG AGENTIVE-speak PRESENT person-male

Type 4:  _ta nasataya lenya wa ta kenaya_ =3D "the old man is the speaker"

ta     nasa-  taya lenya wa      ta     ke-      naya
DEF:SG person-male old   PRESENT DEF:SG AGENTIVE-speak

In Neo-Anglic, Type 1 is expressed by turning adjectives into stative verbs,
which can be done simply by adding verbal affixes to them:

_m=E0n id=E8d_ =3D "the man is dead"

For the other three types, I think it will probably end up using a copular
verb _bi_ (past _bin_, future _gombi_) in basically the same way as the
contemporary standard English copula.  Thus:

Type 2:  _m=E0n ibi at =EDnsaidit h=E0us_ =3D "the man is in the house"

Type 3:  _m=E0n ibi d=E0kta_ =3D "the man is a doctor"

Type 4:  _m=E0n ibi fr=E8nim Dj=E0n_ =3D "the man is John's friend"

[Note: _bi_ is homophonous with the prefix part of the habitual aspect
circumfix _bi...in_, and _bin_ with the anterior tense prefix, but I don't
think that's a problem.]

As before with genitive constructions, I'm leaving out my all conlang
projects that aren't far enough along to have names (since they also don't
have enough vocabulary to give even trivial examples like these).

-------------------------------------------------
Tim Smith
timsmith@global2000.net

Get your facts first and then you can distort them as you please.
- Mark Twain