Re: Copula

Hi!

Chris Peters writes:
> My Ricadh language has a "copula" which is essentially a separable
> verb prefix.  Attached onto the verb, it marks for tense and voice.
> By itself in a verbless sentence, it acts as a copula.
In my Fukhian there is no copula, but the verbal affixes form one
verbal clitic that is suffixed to the first word in the sentence.
Sounds quite similar to your conlang.

For typical verbal roots, which are in sentence initial position, this
first word then looks as if the verb was fronted, but in fact, due to
the free word order, any constituent may carry the verbal clitic.  The
'verb', if present, is then a plain stem distinguished from nouns by
the absence of nominal affixes.

The verbal clitic may be dropped, too.

There is a dummy stem {d} which may be used as a placeholder 'verb' in
sentence initial position which does nothing but carry the verbal
clitic.  This may be desirable for stylistic reasons.

**Henrik