Copula Verb Research Articles

Differential grammaticalization of copulas in Tsúùt’ínà and Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì

Abstract The languages of the Dene (aka Athapaskan) family in North America almost universally employ two copular verbs. In several languages of this family, copular forms are also employed as verbal auxiliaries: forms of one copula mark clausal focus while forms of the other mark TAM (tense/aspect/mode) categories. With reference to two Dene languages in particular, Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì and Tsúùt’ínà, I explain this difference by positing distinct grammaticalization paths and motivations for each copula: both focus and TAM markers originate in a uniclausal reanalysis of biclausal constructions, the former from constructions where the matrix clause asserts the truth of the embedded clause, and the latter from those where the matrix clause supplies extra TAM information to the embedded clause. Both grammaticalizations involve an upward reanalysis of copulas as functional heads.

Tense and Aspect in the Academic Writing of Arab L2 Learners of English: A Corpus-Based Approach


 This study aimed at explicating the use of tense and aspect in the academic writing of Arab L2 learners of English. The scope was restricted to two absolute tenses (simple present and simple past), perfective and imperfective aspects, and verb-form errors arising from the deletion or addition of the third person singular-s besides the omission of copula and auxiliary verbs. The study was conducted on the basis of a comparative, quantitative analysis of the target forms between a learner corpus and a similar-sized native one. In pursuing and achieving the stated objectives, it also concentrated on the types and sources of the tense, aspect and verb form errors in learners’ performance. In addition to the significant disparity between the two corpora in terms of the frequency count and percentage of most of the target forms, the findings confirmed learners’ tendency to use more verbs than native speakers. Results also showed that learners’ use of the preterit (simple past), and perfective and imperfective aspects were largely constrained by their L1 grammar and semantic interpretation of verbs (independent of the target language norm). Moreover, the findings revealed some common inconsistent erroneous forms attributed to the omission or addition of the third person singular-s and the omission of copula and auxiliary verbs. Several main factors were identified as potentially responsible for learners’ errors, that is, inconsistency inherent in L2 rules, learners’ limited exposure to (authentic) L2, overgeneralization, redundancy reduction, and language transfer. The findings suggest the need to introduce appropriate pedagogical methods to best present the target language rules.

Captioning and grammar learning in the L2 Spanish classroom

ABSTRACTPrevious research has demonstrated the effectiveness of captioning in second language (L2) comprehension and vocabulary learning. However, little attention has been paid to its potential in supporting grammar development, another challenging area in L2 acquisition. In this research, we used a randomised control design to investigate the role of salience-raising through textually enhanced captioned video on L2 vocabulary and grammar development. The experiment for this study was integrated into a one-semester university L2 Spanish grammar course. Through four data-collection sessions, we targeted: the preterite/imperfect, copula verbs, gustar-type verbs, and the subjunctive. In each session, participants saw a short grammar lesson before an animated video, which included: (i) captions with textually enhanced target vocabulary, (ii) textually enhanced target grammar, or (ii) a no captioning control. Learners were then tested on their recognition and production of the target items. Results show clear effects of captioning on vocabulary performance. For some grammar structures, there were also positive effects of captioning on production, whereas for other grammar structures no such effect was uncovered. Altogether, these findings confirm the effectiveness of captioning on vocabulary, and illustrate specific difficulties related to grammar captioning, such as the role of structure-specific saliency in the grammatical input.

Expresiones directivas con verbos de uso copulativo en la comedia latina

This paper considers the specific characteristics of directives involving a copular verb in Roman comedy. Different variables are included in the analysis: the social status of characters, their gender, the subtype of speech act, and the level of compliance implied in it. These variables, as well as an understanding of particular characters and the dramatic context, allow us to describe and explain the behaviour of esse in directives, providing evidence for cases in which verbs of this type behave like other predicates, and for circumstances in which they deviate from the general trend. A hierarchy of the most common and the most peculiar expressions is also proposed, focussing primarily on the distinction between subtypes of directives.

Se (re) trouver dans tous ses états ... attributifs : sens et constructions

Abstract This paper offers a corpus study of two reflexive (semi-)copular verbs, viz. se trouver and se retrouver, which at first sight appear to be mere morphological variants. In a first stage, the study is devoted to the comparison of the reflexive copular construction with the object complement construction of trouver and retrouver. We show the observed differences between both constructions may be explained by a process of grammaticalization, which has attained a further stage in the case of the reflexive constructions which even admit semi-auxiliary uses. Next, we conduct a contrastive analysis of the syntax and the semantics (partially based on a collostructional analysis) of the copular constructions of se trouver and se retrouver. The analysis not only allows to describe the different meaning effects produced by the verbs, it also shows the close links with the locative uses. Moreover, it accounts for the role the morpheme « re- » plays in the reinforcement of the nuance of unexpectedness, and hence, of the detrimental inference.

Ser and estar from the Cognitive Grammar perspective

This article explores the various uses of ser and estar in Spanish based on the assumptions of Cognitive Grammar (CG). The application of certain concepts of this model to the description of the attributive and non-attributive values of ser and estar allows us to identify a unifying thread that facilitates an integrated description of each use. These concepts and theoretical instruments include grammaticalization through attenuation, active zone, profile/base distinction, and dependency relation through correspondences, among others. In accordance with the symbolic conception of grammar characteristic of CG, we defend the idea that in their attributive and non-attributive uses both ser and estar are signs in which a basic semantic structure present in all the values can be recognized, although with different emergent nuances in specific constructions facilitated by different processes of metonymic extension. The main argument of this paper is that, in the ser/estar opposition, the marked element is estar as it contains a stative-episodic component that, be it in the foreground of the profile or the background of the base presupposed by this verb, is present in all its uses, locative, attributive, as an auxiliary in progressive periphrasis and in adjectival passive constructions. Ser, however, is a copulative verb by default, and may be associated with the notion of identification or correspondence in all its attributive uses and takes on predicative nuances both in its use in locations of event nouns and as an auxiliary in passives.

On the so‐calledAbsentive– inGerman

AbstractThis investigation targets a syntactic phenomenon of German which is commonly referred to as theabsentive construction. The absentive is considered a universal grammatical category denoting absence. Its syntax is characterised by the occurrence of an auxiliary or copula verb accompanied by a non‐finiteVPcontaining a main verb. The expression of absence, predicated over the clausal subject, is assumed to be based on a constructional meaning. Reviewing a wide range of syntactic and interpretive properties of this structure in German, we will demonstrate that certain empirical claims about the construction are not well founded and that its seemingly idiosyncratic properties are indeed available for compositional analyses. We will propose a structural analysis of its core syntactic and interpretive properties: The predication expresses the localisation of the subject at the location of the event, denoted by the infinitival verb. The interpretation of absence, then, can be explained by an implicature.

External possession of body-part nouns in Dinka

AbstractIn Dinka, a Western Nilotic language, body-part nouns may be externally possessed. External possession is possible and the default option if the body-part noun is semantically part of a transitive object, an unaccusative subject, or a copula subject. With transitive and ditransitive verbs, the external possessor is object, and with intransitive and copulative verbs, it is subject. Externally possessed body-part nouns have no grammatical relation to the verb, and they are restricted to occurring in dedicated syntactic slots of the clause, adjacent to a slot used by the main verb when the finite verb is an auxiliary. In transitive clauses, the body-part noun occurs immediately after that slot. In intransitive and copulative clauses, it occurs immediately before the same slot, and here a phonologically determined subset of the body-part nouns are morphologically marked by tone shift as being externally possessed. These facts suggest that the possessum forms some kind of unit with the verb that is reminiscent of noun incorporation. In Dinka, the referent of virtually any noun can be conceived of a having a body part, and therefore virtually anything can be an external possessor: pronouns, animate nouns, and inanimate nouns, including abstract nouns.

The use(s) of is in mathematics

This paper analyzes some of the ambiguities that arise among statements with the copular verb “is” in the mathematical language of textbooks as compared to day-to-day English language. We identify patterns in the construction and meaning of “is” statements using randomly selected examples from corpora representing the two linguistic registers. We categorize these examples according to the part of speech of the object word in the grammatical form “[subject] is [object].” In each such grammatical category, we compare the relative frequencies of the subcategories of logical relations conveyed by that construction. Within some categories we observe that the same grammatical structure alternatively conveys different logical relations and that the intended logical relation can only sometimes be inferred from the grammatical cues in the statement itself. This means that one can only interpret the intended logical relation by already knowing the relation among the semantic categories in question. Such ambiguity clearly poses a communicative challenge for teachers and students. We discuss the pedagogical significance of these patterns in mathematical language and consider the relationship between these patterns and mathematical practices.

Practical Issues of Translated Texts Editing

This article contains a summary of some practical issues of translated texts editing with clear examples. Copy editing of translated texts is different from copy editing of texts written in the native language, because the focus of the work shifts from how to deliver an author’s message in the most appropriate way to how to deliver author’s text, written in the native language, in another language (Ukrainian) in the most appropriate way. The first question is the versatility: does the copy editor need to know the language of the original text in order to do effective copy editing. And she/he should at least understand the basic features of the language of the original text such as phonetics, grammar and syntax. Also a copy editor should pay particular attention to such aspects as: at the lexical level – false friends, transliteration of proper nouns, excess of possessive pronouns, translation or adaptation of lexical gaps; at the syntactic level – copulative verb, word order in a sentence, contrastive stress in a phrase, address words, syntax simplification. A necessary aspect is the unification of certain elements in the translated text: address words, units of measurement (length, weight, area, time, volume, etc.), transliterated proper and common nouns. Described in this article principles of transliteration, unification, adaptation, lexical and syntactic aspects of copy editing of translated texts will help to improve the quality of translated books into Ukrainian.

Descriptive problems in defining the category of copulas: syntactic and semantic distribution of the ingressive copulas VIRSTI and TAPTI

Descriptive problems in defining the category of copulas: syntactic and semantic distribution of the ingressive copulas VIRSTI and TAPTI

계사 생략이 포함된 스페인어 평서형 감탄문(declarative exclamatives)에 대한 통사적 분석

계사 생략이 포함된 스페인어 평서형 감탄문(declarative exclamatives)에 대한 통사적 분석

National Mentality: Does It Influence a Language Grammar?

The article shows connection between the national mentality and the formation of grammar on the example of the French, Kazakh, Russian and English languages. It highlights the usage of copular verbs and modality in the first pair of languages, and word order, imperative mood and impersonal sentences in the second. The analysis shows that while teaching grammar of a foreign language, it is essential to combine it with cultural information and to compare two cultures at that point. Such cultural dialogue will ease the conception of the foreign language grammar phenomena and help form grammar competence – one of the means of intercultural communication – assuming the ability of a linguistic persona to elicit, understand and interpret the concepts formed by grammar tools of a foreign language.

An analysis of it-clefts within a Role and Reference Grammar framework

This paper begins with a brief overview of the literature on it-clefts. Following this, an approach to the study of it-clefts in English from a Role and Reference Grammar theory perspective (following Van Valin and LaPolla 1997, Van Valin 2003) is presented and several key issues highlighted. The analysis also draws from work by Lambrecht (2001) and Davidse (2000). It is demonstrated that a comprehensive account of it-cleft constructions needs to take into account both the way that clefts exploit the copular verb and their relationship to their noncleft counterpart sentences.

School-Year Grammatical Development in Narrative Retells: Spanish-English Dual Language Learners

Oral narrative retells are rich sources of information for language development. Investigators collected English-language oral narrative retells during the fall and spring from 65 Spanish-English-speaking dual language learners (DLL) in kindergarten and first grade. Investigators examined transcripts of oral narratives for (a) inclusion and accuracy of microstructural elements using the Narrative Assessment Protocol (NAP; Pence, Justice, & Gosse, 2007), (b) percentage of grammatical utterances, and (c) types of verb errors. Prepositional phrases, elaborated noun phrases, irregular past tense verbs, and copula verbs were the most prevalent grammatical forms. Omission errors were the most prevalent verb error type. DLLs’ narrative retells revealed significantly increased number of total NAP codes and diversity of NAP codes. Grammaticality of utterances increased from approximately 77% to 87% from fall to spring. All verb errors types decreased over the academic year. Direct feature coding approaches are useful for tracking developmental progress in DLLs’ retells.

Das deutsche Kopulaverb sein und seine thailändischen Entsprechungen

Although German and Thai are typologically different from each other, both languages do have copulative constructions. The verb sein is the most important copular verb in German. Thai does have literary equivalents for this German verb but they involve different verbs. However, only pen and khɯ: are usually considered as Thai copular verbs. This study aims to compare the German verb sein in copulative constructions with pen and khɯ:. The contrastive analysis is based on a bidirectional parallel corpus consisting of 12 Thai and 13 German contemporary short stories and their translation into the other language. Three questions are to be answered: 1) Which forms are found in Thai as equivalents to the German copular verb sein? 2) Which linguistic elements in German occur as equivalents of the Thai copulative constructions with pen and khɯ:? 3) How can the use of copular verbs in German and in Thai be described? The results of this study show that the equivalents of the German copulative constructions with sein are not only pen and khɯ: but also many other constructions. At the same time, the Thai copular verbs are often used differently and may be expressed in various German constructions and, especially in form of punctuations.

Grammaticalization and deflexion in progress. The past participle in the Old English passive

ABSTRACTThis article deals with the Old English adjectival construction that consists of the copulative verb bēon ‘to be’ and the past participle. Grammaticalization is gauged as to the agreement between the subject noun phrase and the past participle and from the perspective of deflexion, which is considered the final stage of grammaticalization. The highest rates of agreement are found in Ælfrician texts and translations from Latin, while other texts like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle not only evince remarkably lower figures of agreement, but also show a decrease over time. The conclusion is reached that, although the grammaticalization of the past participle in passive constructions is not complete on the basis of deflexion, the process is well underway in Old English.

Virtualidade e equivocidade do ser nos xamanismos ameríndios

O presente artigo pretende explorar alguns aspectos dos problemas da tradução e da variação ontológica nos estudos dos xamanismos ameríndios, em especial no que se refere à maneira pela qual têm sido pensadas as conexões e limites do humano pela escrita etnográfica. Para tanto, o artigo revisa alguns dos pressupostos relacionados ao uso da noção de ontologia na teoria antropológica, tendo em vista discutir os dilemas relacionados à tradução das cópulas predicativas e suas consequências para a compreensão dos regimes xamanísticos de conhecimento, assentado em configurações virtuais.

Grammatical change in borderlands Spanish: A variationist analysis of copula variation and progressive expansion in a South Texas bilingual enclave community

Abstract This study investigates variation in the grammatical system of Spanish in the speech of three generations of Mexican Americans living in a community in South Texas, United States, characterized by high levels of bilingualism and long-term, sustained contact between languages. Two variables are studied using quantitative methods: (1) the extension of the copula verb estar into domains traditionally confined to ser and (2) the expansion of progressive forms at the expense of the simple present. The data reported here suggest changes-in-progress that appear to be accelerated by the linguistic and sociocultural conditions of the community including, especially, lack of access to formal education in Spanish. The sociolinguistic patterning for these variables is compared to patterning for the same variables reported in the literature in both monolingual communities in Spain and Latin America and bilingual communities in the United States.

Complex copula systems as suppletive allomorphy

Languages are known to vary in the number of verbs they exhibit corresponding to English be, in the distribution of such copular verbs, and in the presence or absence of a distinct verb for possession sentences corresponding to English have. This paper offers novel arguments for the position that such differences should be modeled in terms of suppletive allomorphy of the same syntactic element (here dubbed vBE), employing a Late Insertion-based framework. It is shown that such a suppletive allomorphy approach to complex copula systems makes three predictions that distinguish it from non-suppletion-based alternatives (concerning decomposition, possible and impossible syncretisms, and Impoverishment), and that these predictions seem to be correct (although a full test of the possible and impossible syncretisms prediction is not possible in the current state of knowledge).