Arabic copula

[Geoffrey S. Nathan]

I am by no means an expert on Hebrew historical syntax, but it has
certainly been claimed that the same development has happened in modern
Hebrew where

David hu hamelex
'David' 'he' 'the-king'
'David is the king.'

has been reinterpreted such that /hu/ (also /hi/ 'she', /hem/ 'they (m.)',
/hen/ 'they (f.)') has become a copula.  I think Talmy Givon wrote on this,
ages ago.

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Department of Linguistics
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517
Phone:  (618) 453-3421 (Morning Office) / FAX (618) 453-6527
         (618) 453-6231 (Afternoon Office) (618) 549-0106 (Home)
geoffn at siu.edu