Versatile copulas and their stance-marking uses in conversational Odia, an Indo-Aryan language

Abstract

Recent typological studies have identified some major functions associated with copulas, including tense-aspect-mood (TAM) and agreement (AGR) marking. In this paper, using conversational data from Odia, an Indo-Aryan language, we examine the speaker stance functions in copula constructions. More specifically, in addition to focus marking as a highlighting strategy, we show how copulas help to anchor the speaker’s subjective (attitudinal and affective) and intersubjective (socio-interactional) stance. Our analysis reveals that these (inter)subjective stances can be realized epistemically through the tense-mood marking functions of the copula, socio-interactionally through its agreement marking functions, and emphatically through its focus marking functions. The findings from this study contribute to our understanding of the relationship between copulas and stance-taking/stance-marking in spontaneous conversations in Indo-Aryan languages, and potentially other languages as well.