(Udmurt)
NCopDep
NCopDep: Depending on certain grammatical circumstances, the copula does occur with nominal predicates.
| (1) | so | dyšetiś. |
|---|
| (s)he | teacher |
| ’(S)he is a teacher.’ (Y. S.) |
| (2) | ton | dano | murt | kolhoz-yn. |
|---|
| you | respected | man | kolkhoz‑INE |
| ’You are a respected man at the kolkhoz.’ (Alatyrev et al. 1970: 144) |
| (3) | so | dyšetiś | övöl. |
|---|
| (s)he | teacher | COP.NEG |
| ’(S)he is not a teacher.’ (Y. S.) |
| (4) | so | val | ćylkyt | vožan. | |
|---|
| that | COP.PST | clear | jealousy | |
| ’That was sheer jealousy.’ (AnnushkaZagumennova 01.12.2013) |
| (5) | ǯogen | ton | lu-o-d | dyšetiś. |
|---|
| soon | you | COP‑FUT‑2SG | teacher |
| ’Soon you will be a teacher.’ (Gavrilova 1970: 111) |
| (6) | luy-sal-my | ke | mi | tatarstan, | noš | mi | udmurťija. |
|---|
| COP‑COND‑1PL | if | we | Tatarstan | but | we | Udmurtia |
| ’Were we Tatarstan [it would be more understandable], but we are Udmurtia.’ (Marajko 13.10.2014) |
| (7) | bikuzin | žeńa | lu-e | valt-iś | aďami-zy. |
|---|
| Bikuzin | Zhenya | COP‑3SG | lead‑PTCp.IMPF | man‑3PL |
| ’Bikuzin Zhenya is their leader.’ (Mynam malpanjosy 25.09.2014) |
In Udmurt, there is usually no copula co-occurring with a nominal predicate in any person and number in non-negative present tense clauses in indicative mood (1)–(2) (Csúcs 1990: 62, Winkler 2001: 65). The copula (which also functions as an existential verb) does appear in negative sentences (3), in tenses different from the present (4)–(5) and in non-indicative mood (6) (ibid).
Under certain – hitherto poorly understood – conditions the copula can also appear in non-negative present tense sentences in indicative mood (7).
Author: Erika Asztalos
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