copula
/ˈkɒpjʊlə
/noun Logic & Grammar
A connecting word, in particular a form of the verb be connecting a subject and complement.In such cases they fulfil the basic requirement of Syriac sentence structure (namely, that the predicate must be conjugated for person) twice: once within the copula, and once within the verb of existence....
- For linguists it is now standard to think of indefinite descriptions following the copula as always being predicational, and it is a widespread belief that definite descriptions following the copula are often predicational.
- In Hungarian, the zero copula occurs only in the third person, and in AAVE it is not permitted in the first person singular.
Derivatives
copular
- AAVE is like Finnish in that it has a separate copular verb of negation meaning ‘not be’, pronounced ain't, and you need that here.
- There are some cases where we can't tell whether there is a triple-re-ordering, fronting with subject-aux inversion, or just a strange copular order.
- It can't be used on a non-verbal predicate (so in sentences like ‘The man is a teacher’ or ‘The woman is tall’ - there's no copular verb), but that's not a perfect argument.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin, 'connection, linking of words', from co- 'together' + apere 'fasten'.