Subject-final languages generally do not have overt copulas.
Standardized
IF subject full noun phrases follow object full noun phrases, THEN there are no overt copulas.
Keywords
order, subject, object, copula
Domain
inflection, syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
Malagasy, Batak [Toba Dialect], Fijian, Gilbertese (all Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan), Otomi (Oto-Manguean), Ineseño Chumash (Hokan), Baure (Arawakan), Tzotzil, Kekchi (both Mayan), Tsou (Formosan, Austronesian), although the last three languages are not surveyed in the paper
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use. 2. Keenan’s definition of a COPULA is a morphophonemically independent element which has the characteristic properties of stative verb in its languages and which functions as the main verb in sentences with nominal predicates, like ‘John is a thief’. 3a. According to Keenan (#1516), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. This means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well. 3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (#1565): Verb-initial languages normally have no overt copula.
1. By SUBJECT-FINAL languages Keenan means any language in which full noun phrase subjects must follow noun phrase direct objects in the pragmatically less marked sentence types (which contain both subjects and direct objects) of the language. Sentences which are pragmatically less marked place the fewest restrictions on their contexts of appropriate use. 2. Keenan’s definition of a COPULA is a morphophonemically independent element which has the characteristic properties of stative verb in its languages and which functions as the main verb in sentences with nominal predicates, like ‘John is a thief’. 3a. According to Keenan (#1516), subject-final languages are always verb-initial. This means that Keenan’s claims about subject-final languages can be applied to VOS languages as well. 3b. Cf. a more general claim about verb-initial languages (#1565): Verb-initial languages normally have no overt copula.