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Dear Abby,<br>
<br>
That looks actually a lot like Scottish Gaelic, which also has a
three-way split between 1. adjectival and prepositional predicates,
2. definite nominal predicates and 3. indefinite nominal predicates.
<br>
With adjectival and prepositional predicates, the verb <i>bi </i>(present
tense <i>tha</i>) is used as a copula: <br>
<br>
<i>Tha Emily beag</i><br>
be.PRS Emily small<br>
'Emily is small.'<br>
<br>
<i>Tha Emily anns an taigh</i><br>
be.PRS Emily in.DEF DEF house<br>
'Emily is in the house.'<br>
<br>
Nominal predicates, on the other hand, occur with the defective
copula <i>is</i>, albeit in different constructions depending on
definiteness, since with an indefinite predicate, a cleft
construction is used and the logical subject receives the
preposition <i>ann </i>'in':<br>
<br>
<i>'S e oileanach a th' ann Emily</i><br>
COP 3SG.M student REL be.PRS in Emily<br>
'Emily is a student.' (lit. 'It's a student that's in Emily.')<br>
<br>
<i>Is Emily an tidsear</i><br>
COP Emily DEF teacher<br>
'Emily is the teacher.'<br>
<br>
So maybe not exactly what you are looking for strategiewise since
Scottish Gaelic doesn't use different copulas for definite and
indefinite nominal predicates, but it does make the same
distinction(s).<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Silvie<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">05.09.2025 18:52(e)an, Abigail Roberts
via Lingtyp igorleak idatzi zuen:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAKUkHw_cHZ5ZpnDF8Qtd0XnHXUmb-zULEDo4A0UXonzbF5kUHQ@mail.gmail.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">Hello all,<br>
<div>I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any languages with a
particular distribution of copulas. I'm researching non-verbal
clauses in Nukuoro, a Polynesian Outlier language spoken in
Micronesia. In Nukuoro, only non-verbal sentences with two
nominals (i.e., predicative clauses with nominal predicates
and equative and identificational clauses) include copulas.
Sentences with prepositional or adjectival predicates do not:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Adjectival</div>
<div>Emily e looloa, gai a Noa e bodobodo. </div>
<div>Emily ipfv tall, then pn Noa ipfv short<br>
'Emily is tall, but Noa is short.' (Drummond 2023:92)<br>
<br>
Prepositional<br>
D-ogu daina daane i lote hale. <br>
def-1sg.gen.o sibling male loc inside house<br>
'My brother is inside the house.'</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>However, in non-verbal sentences with two nominals,
different copulas are used depending on whether the sentence
is predicative (generally, indefinite predicates) or not.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Predicative</div>
<div>Ia <b>se </b>gauligi suguulu.<br>
3sg <a href="http://cop.sg" moz-do-not-send="true">cop.sg</a>
child school<br>
'S/he is a student.' </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Equative</div>
<div>De henua naa <b>go </b>Pohnpei.<br>
det island med cop.foc Pohnpei<br>
'That island is Pohnpei.'</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Does anyone know of a language with a similar pattern of
copularization- one copula for indefinite nominal
predicates/predicative clauses and one for definite or
referential nominals? </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thank you all for your help!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>All the best,</div>
<div>Abby Roberts</div>
<div>(PhD student, UC Berkeley)</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
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