Universal 1653:
- Original
- If a language is non-tensed, the nominal predicate does not require a copula.
- Standardized
- IF there is non-tensedness, THEN the nominal predicate does not require a copula.
- Keywords
- tense, nominal predicate, copula
- Domain
- inflection, syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- 40 languages surveyed by Kalinina
- Source
- Kalinina 1998
- Counterexamples
1. Kalinina uses the term “markedness” in the sense of Croft (1991: 67), meaning the relative structural complexity of two constructions. If one and the same form gets either nominal (case) or verbal (person) inflectional morphemes depending on its either argument/attributive or predicative functions, these functions are EQUALLY MARKED. If both functions receive no morphological marking, they are EQUALLY UNMARKED. Obviously, the functions of a form can be equally marked only in languages with inflectional morphology, and the functions of a form are equally unmarked in languages without inflectional morphology. 2. Stassen defines a language as tensed, if predicates in main sentences are obligatorily marked for a Past-NonPast distinction by means of bound morphology (see #1031, 1032).