Academic literature on the topic 'Iter copulae'

SUMMARY The copula in present-day Swahili is primarily expressed with the non-variant item ni in all persons. Historical documents show that the copula situation was markedly different as recently as two centuries ago. There was a full verb -li "to be" which was used only with locative sentences, while in equa-tional sentences there was no expressed copula. M existed only as a focus particle of free syntactic movement, and also as a diachronically related clause-initial presentative morpheme. This paper traces the evolution of this system into that of the present day, in which presentative ni was reanalyzed in the present tense as a copula due to a particular syntactic configuration in which it frequently appeared, while the -li was reanalyzed as a marker of past tense and disappeared as a verb. The analysis is supported with evidence from various languages in which copulas have arisen similarly. The analysis has the benefit of accounting for the behavior of present-day ni in non-present tenses, in which the focus particle ni is still in usage. RÉSUMÉ En Swahili moderne la copule est en principe exprimée à l'aide du morphème invariable ni à toutes les personnes. Les documents historiques montrent que le système différait d'une façon marquée il y a à peine deux siècles. Il y avait un verbe -li "être" qui ne s'employait que dans les phrases locatives, alors que dans les phrases équationelles la copule n'était pas exprimée. M n'existait que dans le rôle d'une particule d'emphase de mouvement syntactique libre, ou plus dans celui d'un morphème présentatif qui se trouvait au début d'une phrase et était lié historiquement à la particule d'emphase. La présente étude suit l'évolution de ce système jusqu'au présent; il est montré qu'il s'agissait d'une réanalyse du ni présentatif au temps du présent comme copule à cause d'une configuration syntactique parti-culière dans laquelle il apparaissait souvent, alors que -li fut réanalysé comme indicateur du temps passé et que son emploi comme forme verbale disparut. L'argument de cette analyse est renforcé par des données de plusieurs langues dans lesquelles des copules sont apparues d'une manière semblable. L'avantage de la présente analyse est qu'elle explique le ni moderne dans les temps qui ne sonmt pas des temps du passé et dans lesquels la particule d'emphase ni s'emploie encore aujourd'hui. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Im heutigen Swahili wird die Kopula vornehmlich durch das gleichförmige Morphem ni ausgedruckt. Historische Dokumente zeigen jedoch, daß die Situation noch vor zwei Jahrhunderten eine ganz andere war. In ihnen findet sich ein Vollverb -li "sein", das nur in lokativen Sätzen gebraucht wurde, während in Vergleichssätzen keine Kopula zu finden war. M gab es nur als Fokus-partikel freier syntaktischer Wahl und darüber hinaus als ein historisch ver-wandtes Morphem, das einen Satzbeginn markiert. Der gegenwärtige Aufsatz verfolgt die Entwicklung dieser Verwendungsweisen zum neuen, heutigen System, in welchem das vorweisende ni im Präsens neuinterpretiert wird, und zwar als Kopula als Folge eines häufigen Erscheines in bestimmten syntakti-schen Bildungen, wohingegen -li als Vergangenheitszeichen neu analysiert wurde und als selbständiges Verb verschwand. Diese Analyse wird unterstutzt durch Beispiele aus anderen Sprachen, in denen Kopula auf âhnliche Weise entstanden sind. Der Vorteil dieser Analyse ist, daß sie das moderne ni in den nicht-vergangenen Tempora erklärt, in denen die Fokuspartikel ni noch ver-wendet wird.

Abstract The aim of this Article is to propose that fragment answers in Basaá (Bantu) derive from two different sources, namely, a regular source and a copular source. Regular fragments are those that are derived by movement of a Negative Polarity Item (NPI) or a CP complement to the left periphery of the clause followed by clausal ellipsis (Merchant 2004 and related work). Conversely, copular fragments involve a biclausal structure whereby the focalized fragment, no matter the syntactic function it fulfills in clause structure, finally ends up being the subject of the null verbal copula of the main clause. The fragment is initially selected as the external argument of the null verbal copula within the matrix VP along the lines of the VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis (Koopman and Sportiche 1991). From Spec-VP it raises to Spec-TP to satisfy the EPP requirements. The internal argument of the null copula is a headless relative in which a relative operator (covert/overt) moves to Spec-CP, a position above FocP the target of ellipsis. This gives rise to a structure whereby the fragment answer in the matrix clause and the relative operator in the embedded clause resist ellipsis. The analysis also provides semantic evidence that copular fragments are not clefts. The ellipsis approach is supported by a range of grammatical properties such as connectivity effects, locality constraints and subcategorization requirements. This paper is not only a contribution to Merchant’s (2004) ellipsis approach but it also provides new evidence for our understanding of the crosslinguistic variation of ellipsis.

In this article I aim to establish source constructions for the inclusive copular construction with the verb virsti ‘turn into’ and to discuss how this once locomotional verb eventually became a copula with an aspectual function in the sentences profiling change events. The research is conducted on the base of data provided by the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language. As I argued in Mikulskas (2018), the copular construction with this verb along with other copular constructions featuring verbs with similar meaning, such as tapti ‘become’, darytis/pasidaryti ‘become’ (lit. ‘make oneself’) and, formerly, stotis/pastoti ‘become’ (lit. ‘stand up’) express the ingressive aspect of the change event (mainly in the Simple Past and Future tenses). Copular constructions with these verbs may thus be seen as different instantiations of a more abstract ingressive-aspect-expressing construction. While in some contexts these copulas can compete with each other and be used interchangeably, in others their semantic distribution differs. One can reasonably suggest that the copulas under discussion have more or less divided among them the semantic space of aspectual expression according to the semantic and aspectual properties they have inherited from their source constructions. That is why it is so important to trace the source constructions of the copular constructions mentioned above. As is often the case in languages, words retaining their original meanings are still in active usage along with their grammaticalized forms. If this is the case, source constructions are not difficult to detect. The verb virsti (and its prefixed forms) is still widely used in Lithuanian, originally designating the locomotional event of the tumbling down of some vertical object. Thus, locomotional constructions with the verb virsti can be reasonably thought of as the main source of corresponding copular constructions designating a change event. More specifically, the inclusive copular constructions evolved from the locomotional ones through the conceptual metaphor enter a state is moving to a place. Importantly, after a locomotional construction has been reanalysed into a copular one, the latter often preserves formal properties of the former. For example, the starting point of a change event, if expressed in the copular construction with the verb virsti, is coded by the PP [iš NPgen], the same as for the Source participant in the locomotional schema, and the predicative complement of the copular construction after reanalysis often retains the coding of the Goal participant in that schema (i. e. it is coded by PP [į NPacc]). Emerging grammatical construction can benefit not from one but from several sources. In other words, there can be multiple source constructions (Petré 2012). This insight is based on the well-known linguistic fact that the same lexical item, especially a verb, often participates in several different grammatical constructions, and the same construction may attract different verbal lexemes. Copular constructions usually appear in the grammatical context of the locative, existential, possessive or the periphrastic perfect constructions (Mikulskas 2009, 113-141). Technically, this grammatical context surrounding copular constructions may be defined as a network of constructions defined by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1958) principle of family resemblance. In the case under discussion, even synchronically, relations of motivation, or asymmetric inheritance links (Goldberg 1995, 72), can easily be posited not only between locomotional constructions with the verb virsti ‘tumble down’ and the corresponding copular constructions, but also between existential constructions with this verb designating events of manifestation, occurrence, befalling and the copular constructions. More specifically, the inheritance links between source constructions and corresponding copular constructions may be defined as various kinds of metaphorical extension. The fact that existential constructions with the verb virsti partake in the formation of inclusive copular constructions with this verb is not accidental, as an existential assertion is always part of any identity statement (Mikulskas 2017, 70-71; Mikulskas 2018, 7). It must also be noticed that existential constructions with the verb virsti are genetically connected to the locomotional constructions with this verb. In fact, certain locomotional events easily acquire an existential interpretation. The crucial point in the evolution of the copular construction under discussion from the two source constructions is the establishment of a so-called subject alternation (Lenartaitė 2011, 129-162) in the domain. This phenomenon can be viewed from two perspectives. First, one may suggest that the schema inherited by the copular construction from its locomotional counterpart becomes a conceptual frame within which there is a space for an existential interpretation of essentially the same scene. In other words, the existential construction and its copular counterpart profile different episodes of the same locomotional schema: in the first construction the Source participant, expressed by the PP [iš + NPGEN]), is focused, but in the second the nominal of this participant is selected as the subject and the subject of the first, existential, construction becomes a part of the copular complement, expressed by the PP [į + NPACC] which formally corresponds to the Goal participant in the schema. From these alternating constructions one can also see that the existential assertion is a part of the more complex statement of identity implying the cognitive operation of comparison in which a newly emerged entity, selected there in the guise of a class representative, in fact plays the role of a standard of comparison. Alternatively, one may suggest that conditions for the alternative subject selection and the ensuing copular construction are formed when the Source participant of the existential construction loses its locational nature and can be interpreted as an individual or a member of some class (which further undergoes transformation into another entity). Finally, the establishment of a subject alternation in existential vs. copular constructions in language may be understood as the actualization of reanalysis (see Barđdal & Gildea 2015, 7 and literature) of the locomotional constructions into copular ones.

The article is devoted to Hebrew predicate nominal sentences in which the lexical item ze fulfills a copula-like function. A hypothesis is put forward according to which the demonstrative ze has acquired its new function under the influence of Slavic contact languages.

The five papers in this issue cover a range of perspectives on the acquisition and use of the Spanish copulasserandestarin a variety of contexts, including language contact, bilingual language acquisition, and classroom second language learning. The fact that these papers cite work in this area as far back as the early part of the 20th century with each subsequent decade being represented suggests the continual importance and complexity of the distinction between the two copular forms and shows how this complexity is played out in acquisition and bilingual use. Over the past century different perspectives have been taken on this multifaceted issue with linguistic explanations and the role of the native language being primary. In this epilogue, we focus on some of these same issues, but expand our commentary to include the new dimensions represented in this collection of papers: (i) context of learning (input), (ii) prior knowledge as represented by other language(s) known, (iii) item-learning and lexical development, and (iv) innovations in methodology.

Abstract Construction Grammar, one of the major frameworks in Cognitive Linguistics, has been successful in providing accounts of a wide range of empirical data. The approach has recently placed great emphasis on low-level generalizations, and some studies have argued that a constructional meaning is often associated only with a specific lexical item. Therefore, by investigating in detail the form [copula be + Adj. + enough + to-infinitive], the present study proposes that the combinatorial potential of the intensifier enough and the derived constructional meanings are sensitive to tense, thus emphasizing the importance of ‘item- and tense-specific constructions’.

In Cypriot Greek, the negated future is marked by the element tha, which appears instead of the expected present tense copula and a selected subordinating element. This paper documents the distribution of this item for the first time, and presents an analysis in Distributed Morphology that analyzes tha as a portmanteau morpheme realizing two heads in the context of negation. This analysis requires that spans (or targets of Fusion) can include a verb and the head of its C complement.

Abstract Background Heterogeneity in ageing rates drives the need for research into lifestyle secrets of successful agers. Biological age, predicted by epigenetic clocks, has been shown to be a more reliable measure of ageing than chronological age. Dietary habits are known to affect the ageing process. However, much remains to be learnt about specific dietary habits that may directly affect the biological process of ageing. Objective To identify food groups that are directly related to biological ageing, using Copula Graphical Models. Methods We performed a preregistered analysis of 3,990 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative, based in North America. Biological age acceleration was calculated by the epigenetic clock PhenoAge using whole-blood DNA methylation. Copula Graphical Modelling, a powerful data-driven exploratory tool, was used to examine relations between food groups and biological ageing whilst adjusting for an extensive amount of confounders. Two food group–age acceleration networks were established: one based on the MyPyramid food grouping system and another based on item-level food group data. Results Intake of eggs, organ meat, sausages, cheese, legumes, starchy vegetables, added sugar and lunch meat was associated with biological age acceleration, whereas intake of peaches/nectarines/plums, poultry, nuts, discretionary oil and solid fat was associated with decelerated ageing. Conclusion We identified several associations between specific food groups and biological ageing. These findings pave the way for subsequent studies to ascertain causality and magnitude of these relationships, thereby improving the understanding of biological mechanisms underlying the interplay between food groups and biological ageing.

In this article, we describe a new command, eq5dmap, for conditional prediction of the utility values of EQ-5D-5L (EQ-5D-3L) from observed or specified values of EQ-5D-3L (EQ-5D-5L) conditional on age and gender. Predictions can be made either from the five-item health descriptions or from the (exact or approximate) utility score. The prediction process is based on a joint statistical model of the two variants of EQ-5D that have been fit to alternative reference datasets (the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases and a EuroQol Group coordinated data-collection study). The underlying model is a system of ordinal regressions with a flexible residual distribution specified as Gaussian or as a copula mixture. Use of the command is illustrated with an application that includes an investigation of the sensitivity of the mapping outcomes to the choice of reference dataset.