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It appears that the specific imperative-hortative meaning of the
absence of the copula in a predlocative construction is a
peculiarity of English (and maybe a few other European languages).<br>
<br>
If we ask a question about "any language", we must use comparative
concepts, and clearly, Oceanic languages like Mwotlap and Teanu also
instantiate the type "NP + PP" (as pointed out by Alex François).
There don't seem to be any clear generalizations about this type,
though.<br>
<br>
But what is the definition of "NP" (as a comparative concept)? That
may also be problematic, as pointed out by Siva Kalyan, because some
people use "DP" as a general term for nominal expressions. Since we
cannot say "*Your hands in the air", one may want to say that the
English construction is "N + PP", but what the exact boundaries of
this English construction are would have to be determined (can
personal pronouns be used? "you-all to the rescue!"?). Eventually,
we might want to ask whether there are other languages with a
predlocative construction whose subject cannot be modified and which
lacks a copula.<br>
<br>
So this simple case again illustrates that we need to be very clear
about our comparative concepts.<br>
<br>
Martin<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 26.09.20 um 02:41 schrieb Siva
Kalyan:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:D51FE05D-FC48-4080-946C-1DC400783B59@gmail.com">
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In English, it would be more natural to say "Legs off the table!".
Likewise "(*Your) hands in the air!". I.e., it is probably useful
to distinguish N + PP from NP + PP (or rather, NP + PP from DP +
PP, depending on your framework).
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Siva<br class="">
<div class="">
<div><br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On 21 Sep 2020, at 1:51 pm, JOO, Ian
[Student] <<a href="mailto:ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk"
class="" moz-do-not-send="true">ian.joo@connect.polyu.hk</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
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<div dir="ltr" class=""><span style="font-size:
inherit;" class="">Dear all,</span><br class="">
</div>
</div>
<div id="id-ca17c194-f324-419e-a95f-82464bef9946"
class="ms-outlook-mobile-reference-message">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">I wonder if there has
been any literature on the construction where
there is no verb, but only an NP and a PP,
such as:</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">(1) Superman to the
rescue!</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">(2) Your legs off the
table!</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">Of course, not only in
English, but in any language. I would
appreciate your help.</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">From Hong Kong,</div>
<div dir="ltr" class="">Ian</div>
</div>
</div>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Martin Haspelmath (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:haspelmath@shh.mpg.de">haspelmath@shh.mpg.de</a>)
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig</pre>
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