Word or otherwise? The status of the copula no in Guinean Pular

Abstract

The paper analyzes the morphosyntactic status of a copula no as part of complex verbal predicates of Guinean Pular. A locative copula no, combined with various forms of lexical verb, adds up to three verbal constructions. Morphological and semantic non-compositionality of no in such constructions questions its morphosyntactic status as a free word and suggests that it might be an affix or a clitic. Pular data has been subjected to a series of tests using a set of phonological, morphological, and semantic criteria. The results of the phonological tests show that no in complex verbal predicates cannot be a free word, whereas the morphological tests deny it the status of an affix. It is, therefore, concluded that this copula is a clitic, which is confirmed by the language data complying with general morphological and phonological criteria.