UPPSALA UNIVERSITET Masteruppsats, 30 HP Institutionen för lingvistik och filologi VT18 The Use of the Copula in Non-Copula Constructions in the Languages of South Asia Anna Sjöberg Supervisor: Prof. Anju Saxena Abstract In this thesis, I explore the use of copulas in non-copula constructions in the languages of South Asia to establish possible genetic and areal tendencies in the distribution. Using materials – language descriptions and data – from Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India, I examine the phenomenon in 206 languages from four families (Munda, Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Sino- Tibetan). It is found that the languages of South Asia appear to be more likely than the world- wide average to use the copula in non-copula constructions and that at least Munda, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan use it in the same way with regards to tense, namely in the past and present but not the future. Finally, I argue that there is some evidence supporting that the use of the copula in non-copula constructions is an areal feature, though more work is needed to make any definitive conclusions. i Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... i Contents ................................................................................................................................. ii List of maps .......................................................................................................................... iii List of figures........................................................................................................................ iv List of tables .......................................................................................................................... v 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 2. Aim of the thesis ................................................................................................................ 2 3. Materials ............................................................................................................................ 2 4. Method ............................................................................................................................... 5 5. Background ........................................................................................................................ 9 5.1. The language families of South Asia ......................................................................... 9 5.1.1. Munda ................................................................................................................ 9 5.1.2. Dravidian .......................................................................................................... 10 5.1.3. Sino-Tibetan ..................................................................................................... 10 5.1.4. Indo-Aryan and Nuristani ................................................................................ 11 5.2. South Asia as a linguistic area ................................................................................. 12 5.3. Copulas .................................................................................................................... 13 5.4. Copulas in non-copula constructions ....................................................................... 15 5.5. The world-wide distribution of copulas in non-copula constructions ..................... 17 6. Results ............................................................................................................................. 19 6.1. Existence of copulas ................................................................................................ 19 6.2. Copulas in non-copula constructions ....................................................................... 20 6.3. Tense distinctions .................................................................................................... 25 6.4. Three-way tense distinction languages .................................................................... 32 6.4.1 Copulas in non-copula constructions in the present tense ................................ 33 6.4.2. Copula in non-copula constructions in the past tense ...................................... 37 ii 6.4.3. Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future tense ................................. 41 6.4. Past/non-past languages ........................................................................................... 47 6.4.1. Copulas in non-copula constructions in the non-past ...................................... 47 6.4.2. Copulas in non-copula constructions in the past .............................................. 48 6.5. Future/non-future languages .................................................................................... 49 6.6. Intermediate summary ............................................................................................. 49 6.7. Quantification of distances ...................................................................................... 49 6.8. Distribution over genetic groups .............................................................................. 52 6.9. The Glottolog classifications vs. the LSI classifications ......................................... 57 7. Discussion and conclusions ............................................................................................. 60 7.1. The lack of the copula in future constructions ......................................................... 61 7.2. Genetic distribution .................................................................................................. 61 7.3. Aspect ...................................................................................................................... 62 7.4. Are the similarities due to contact? .......................................................................... 63 7.5. Future research ......................................................................................................... 64 8. Summary .......................................................................................................................... 65 References ........................................................................................................................... 65 Appendix 1. The languages in the study .............................................................................. 69 Appendix 2. LSI classification of the languages in the data ............................................... 74 Appendix 3. Glottolog classification of the languages in the data ...................................... 77 List of maps Map 1: Existence of copulas ................................................................................................................. 19 Map 2: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the Himalayish languages .......................................... 23 Map 3: Copulas in non-copula constructions in Kuki-Chin-Naga languages ....................................... 24 Map 4: Copulas in non-copula constructions in South Asian languages............................................... 25 Map 5: Tense distinctions in Munda languages .................................................................................... 28 Map 6: Tense distinctions in Dravidian languages ................................................................................ 28 Map 7: Tense distinctions in the Northwestern IA languages ............................................................... 29 iii Map 8: Tense distinctions in the Kuki-Chin-Naga group...................................................................... 31 Map 9: Tense distinctions in the Bodic languages ................................................................................ 31 Map 10: Tense distinctions in the languages of South Asia .................................................................. 32 Map 11: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the Dravidian languages .......................................... 34 Map 12: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the present tense in the Kuki-Chin languages .......... 36 Map 13: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the present tense ...................................................... 37 Map 14: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the past tense in the Kuki-Chin-Naga languages ..... 39 Map 15: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the past tense in the Bodic languages ...................... 40 Map 16: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the past tense ............................................................ 40 Map 17: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future tense in Central IA languages.................. 43 Map 18: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future in Northwestern IA language .................. 44 Map 19: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future tense in the Bodic languages ................... 45 Map 20: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future tense in Kuki-Chin-Naga languages ........ 46 Map 21: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the future tense......................................................... 47 Map 22: Copulas in non-copula constructions in the non-past tense in South Asia .............................. 48 Map 23: Midpoint of the languages....................................................................................................... 50 List of figures Figure