Re: Copula

David J. Peterson wrote:
>
> I always wondered about tenses other than the
> unmarked tense in languages that do this.  For
> example, in Zhyler, the copula can be dropped
> if the subject is third person and the tense is
> present. It's required, otherwise, because it
> carries pronominal information and tense
> information.  In Russian, there's no copula--in the
> present. But if you want to say "He was a teacher",
> or "He used to be a teacher", you do need to have
> a verb there. . .  I've never been clear on how one
> gets by without a copula in languages that don't
> have one when the verb ordinarily encodes tense
> information. I know that in Tatari Faran, the tense
> information is encoded with adverbs.  Are there
> any conlangs that are like Russian in the present?
> If so, what do they do in other tenses?

Malagasy (spoken on the island of Madagascar)
has no copula. Tense on verbs is indicated by a
prefix. For verbs in active voice, the prefixes are
m- for present tense, n- for past, and h- for future.

 Mahita ny namako ny mpampianatra.
  (pres.-see the friend-my the teacher)
 The teacher sees my friend.

 Nahita ny namako ny mpampianatra.
  (past-see the friend-my the teacher)
 The teacher saw my friend.

A t- prefix is added to locative words to indicate
past time.

 Mahita any ny namako ny mpampianatra.
  (pres.-see there the friend-my the teacher)
 The teacher sees my friend there.

 Nahita tany ny namako ny mpampianatra.
  (past-see past-there the friend-my the teacher)
 The teacher saw my friend there.

So without a coupla:

  Any Antsirabe ny mpampianatra.
  (there Antsirabe the teacher)
  The teacher is in Antsirabe.

  Tany Antsirabe ny mpampianatra.
  (past-there Antsirabe the teacher)
  The teacher was in Antsirabe.

There is also a particle "ho" which can indicate
future time (but is not used if another word in the
sentence indicates the future).

  Ho any Antsirabe ny mpampianatra.
  (future there Antsirabe the teacher)
  The teacher will be in Antsirabe.


--Ph. D.