[Lingtyp] NP + PP construction
Martin Haspelmath
haspelmath at shh.mpg.de
Mon Oct 5 10:36:54 UTC 2020
The term "copula" may originally have been restricted to linking
elements in nominal-predicate clauses (or adjective-predicate clauses),
but for quite a while, it has been used for markers of locative
predicates as well.
For example, this APiCS chapter (by Susanne Maria Michaelis) shows
creole and pidgin languages which have two different copulas for nominal
predicates and locative predicates:
https://apics-online.info/parameters/76.chapter.html. A well-known
example is Jamaican, which has a locative copula "de" and a nominal
copula "a".
Incidentally, I don't think we should use the term "zero copula" in
typology, because a copula is a kind of predication marker, and a marker
cannot be zero (otherwise we cannot define a marker as a kind of form:
https://dlc.hypotheses.org/1826)
[Whether a copula is a kind of verb is a separate question; in many
languages, we would say that it is, but this is a language-particular
consideration, not a typological consideration.|
Martin
Am 29.09.20 um 10:10 schrieb JOO, Ian [Student]:
>
> Dear all,
>
> Thank you for the comments you left regarding my question on verbless
> construction/non-verbal predicates/ellipsis/any of the many other
> names it is called.
>
> The general viewpoint seems to be that it is in fact fairly common
> around the world.
>
> It seems to me however that we must distinguish the case of *zero
> copula *from other cases of verbless constructions, as some languages
> allow the two to different degrees.
>
> For example in Russian (1) is acceptable but (2) is not (correct me if
> I’m wrong):
>
> 1. /Ya student/
>
> 1SG student
>
> `I am a student.’
>
> 2. /*Ya v dom/
>
> 1SG to house.ACC
>
> `Intended meaning: I’m going to the house.’
>
> So it seems necessary to me that *zero copula *should be distinguished
> from *zero verb*.
>
> But as Mark pointed out, a language that allos zero copula is also
> likely to allow zero verb.
>
> Also, as Siva mentioned, it’s interesting and remains the open
> question why the article must be elided for the sentence to be more
> natural (/Legs off the table/ compared to /your legs off the table/).
>
> From Hong Kong,
>
> Ian
>
> *From: *paolo Ramat <mailto:paolo.ramat at unipv.it>
> *Sent: *Sunday, September 27, 2020 4:49 PM
> *To: *Alex Francois <mailto:alex.francois.cnrs at gmail.com>
> *Cc: *JOO, Ian [Student] <mailto:ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk>;
> LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> <mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> *Subject: *Re: [Lingtyp] NP + PP construction
>
> 1) Ital./Superman alla riscossa ! /(could be a head title in a
> newspaper. Very often journals announce their news in these form).
>
> 2) Ital. /Giù le gambe dal tavolo !/ (imperat.)
>
> Actually, non verbal predication is known in many languages: see above
> all Kees Hengeveld, /Non verbal predication./ De Gruyter. And look in
> Google at "non-verbal predication" for further literature.
>
> Best,
>
> Paolo
>
>
> prof. dr. Paolo Ramat
>
> Università di Pavia (retired)
>
> Istituto Universitario Studi Superiori (IUSS Pavia) (retired)
>
> Accademia dei Lincei, Socio corrispondente
>
> 'Academia Europaea'
>
> 'Societas Linguistica Europaea', Honorary Member
>
> piazzetta Arduino 11 - I 27100 Pavia
>
> ##39 0382 27027
>
> 347 044 98 44
>
> Il giorno dom 27 set 2020 alle ore 07:24 Alex Francois
> <alex.francois.cnrs at gmail.com <mailto:alex.francois.cnrs at gmail.com>>
> ha scritto:
>
> dear Ian,
>
> > /I wonder if there has been any literature on the construction
> where there is no verb, but only an NP and a PP/
>
> Interesting question.
>
> In English, those constructions are particular: they are arguably
> elliptical in some way, exclamative – or hortative – rather than
> declarative…
>
> Yet in many languages, including from the Oceanic (Austronesian)
> family, a construction {NP + PP} is simply the normal syntax for a
> declarative statement, where the PP is the predicate itself.
>
> Thus *Mwotlap* (Oceanic; Banks, Vanuatu) would have this:
> (square brackets = limits of the predicate phrase)
>
> (1) *Imam mino [**mi **tēytēybē].*
>
> father my with doctor
>
> “My father is/was with the doctor.”
>
> (2) *na-tan̄ nōnōm [**lelo** siok].*
>
> Art-bag your inside canoe
>
> “Your bag is in the canoe.”
>
> Likewise, *Araki *(Oceanic; Santo, Vanuatu) says:
>
> (3) *Sari nene [**m̈ar̄a **m̈aji]*.
>
> spear this for fish
>
> “This spear is for fish.” (i.e. it's designed for fishing)
>
> *Teanu *(Oceanic ; Temotu, Solomons) would have:
>
> (4) *Datilu [**pe **Iura]*.
>
> 3dual from Vanuatu
>
> “They were from Vanuatu.”
>
> These are all prepositional predicates, translated in English as
> /BE/ + prep. (is with, is in, is for, were from…)
>
> Their syntax is typical of languages of the "omnipredicative" type
> (cf. Launey 1994 about Nāhuatl), languages where the predicate
> slot can be headed by various lexical classes — unlike European
> languages, where the predicative function in declarative
> statements is basically restricted to verbs.
>
> Those languages which, like European languages, restrict
> predicativity to the class of verbs, need a copula (like a verb
> BE) to turn non-predicative phrases into a predicate: with > "I
> _was_ with them"; happy > "she _is_ happy"; rice > "this _is_
> rice"; home > "we _were_ home".
>
> This operation (turning a non-pred phrase into a predicate) is
> arguably the main function of copulas (cf. Lemaréchal 1989,
> 1997); this is the /raison d'être/ of /être/.
>
> In omnipredicative languages, words like /with/, /happy, rice/ and
> /home/ would simply head the predicate, making the whole copula
> operation superfluous. This is why a typical property of
> omnipredicative languages is to lack a verb Be in the first place.
>
> NB: in languages where the predicate is clause-initial, you will
> have the reverse order {_PP_ NP}. Example in Tahitian:
>
> (5) *[Nō tō'u fenua] teie mā'a.*
>
> from my country this food
>
> “This food is from my country.”
>
> Here again, the preposition (/nō/) is the head of the predicate.
>
> Some references:
>
> * *Launey*, Michel. 1994. /Une grammaire omniprédicative: Essai
> sur la morphosyntaxe du nahuatl classique/. Sciences du
> Langage, Paris: CNRS.
> * *Lemaréchal*, Alain. 1989. /Les parties du discours, Syntaxe
> et sémantique/. Linguistique Nouvelle. Paris: Presses
> Universitaires de France.
> * —— 1997. /Zéro(s)/. Linguistique Nouvelle. Paris: Presses
> universitaires de France.
> * *François*, Alexandre. 2005. Diversité des prédicats non
> verbaux dans quelques langues océaniennes. In Jacques François
> & Irmtraud Behr, /Les constituants prédicatifs et la diversité
> des langues/. Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris.
> Louvain: Peeters. 179-197.
> * —— 2017. The economy of word classes in Hiw, Vanuatu:
> Grammatically flexible, lexically rigid. In Eva van Lier
> (ed.), /Lexical Flexibility in Oceanic Languages/. Special
> issue of /Studies in Language/. 41 (2): 294–357.
>
> __________
>
> I realise that these Oceanic constructions look perfectly parallel
> to your English examples [/Your legs off the table!/], and yet the
> syntactic similarity is only superficial.
>
> The contrast – whether syntactic, semantic or pragmatic – is worth
> exploring.
>
> best
>
> Alex
>
> Alex François
>
> LaTTiCe <http://www.lattice.cnrs.fr/en/alexandre-francois/> —
> CNRS– <http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html>ENS
> <https://www.ens.fr/laboratoire/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-et-cognition-umr-8094>–Sorbonne
> nouvelle
> <http://www.univ-paris3.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
> Australian National University
> <https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/francois-a>
> Academia page <https://cnrs.academia.edu/AlexFran%C3%A7ois> –
> Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.online.fr/>
>
> On Fri, 25 Sep 2020 at 23:07, JOO, Ian [Student]
> <ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk <mailto:ian.joo at connect.polyu.hk>> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> 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:
>
> (1) Superman to the rescue!
>
> (2) Your legs off the table!
>
> Of course, not only in English, but in any language. I would
> appreciate your help.
>
> From Hong Kong,
>
> Ian
>
>
> /Disclaimer:/
>
> /This message (including any attachments) contains
> confidential information intended for a specific individual
> and purpose. If you are not the intended recipient, you should
> delete this message and notify the sender and The Hong Kong
> Polytechnic University (the University) immediately. Any
> disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message, or the
> taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited and
> may be unlawful./
>
> /The University specifically denies any responsibility for the
> accuracy or quality of information obtained through University
> E-mail Facilities. Any views and opinions expressed are only
> those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those
> of the University and the University accepts no liability
> whatsoever for any losses or damages incurred or caused to any
> party as a result of the use of such information./
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> <mailto:Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> <mailto:Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>
>
> /Disclaimer:/
>
> /This message (including any attachments) contains confidential
> information intended for a specific individual and purpose. If you are
> not the intended recipient, you should delete this message and notify
> the sender and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (the University)
> immediately. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message,
> or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited and
> may be unlawful./
>
> /The University specifically denies any responsibility for the
> accuracy or quality of information obtained through University E-mail
> Facilities. Any views and opinions expressed are only those of the
> author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the University and
> the University accepts no liability whatsoever for any losses or
> damages incurred or caused to any party as a result of the use of such
> information./
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
--
Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at shh.mpg.de)
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20201005/15a8a4ef/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 322BD11665BA424BAC5D4CC2E804EF0B.png
Type: image/png
Size: 127 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20201005/15a8a4ef/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1BBDD249599744D2A0C962964806E28A.png
Type: image/png
Size: 139 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lingtyp/attachments/20201005/15a8a4ef/attachment-0001.png>
More information about the Lingtyp
mailing list