Beyond “to be”: multiple copula verbs in Munya
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Junwei Bai
Abstract
This paper examines copulas in Munya, a Qiangic language within the Tibeto-Burman family, focusing on how they express identity, existence, location, and possession. While Munya uses a distinct copula for identity, it employs eight polysemous copulas for the other three senses. The selection of these copulas is determined by the properties of what this paper terms the “copula-determining referent”, which can be the copula subject or copula complement. The study further investigates dialectal variations in copula inventory and meaning, and proposes that possessive constructions in Munya evolved from existential ones through a process of transitivization.
Funding source: China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Award Identifier / Grant number: 2023M740306
Acknowledgments
This paper developed from a presentation delivered at the Language and Culture Research Centre weekly seminar at James Cook University in March 2018. I wish to thank all attendees for their feedback, and extend particular gratitude to Alexandra Aikhenvald for her suggestion of the term “copula-determining referent” and to R. M. W. Dixon for his advice on considering the group of words discussed here as copulas. I also acknowledge Randy LaPolla for his insightful comments on a prior version and the three anonymous reviewers for their candid and challenging questions (especially the reviewer who recommended rejection), which motivated me to address previously unconsidered aspects. Finally, I am deeply indebted to the Munya people, especially my host family and my language teachers, for accepting me to their community and for sharing their language with such patience and good humor.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Informed consent: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The author has accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: Google Gemini and DeepSeek V1 were consulted to improve language, including giving feedbacks on wording and grammatical errors.
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Conflict of interest: The author states no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: This study is funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2023M740306).
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Data availability: Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- 1
-
first person
- 2
-
second person
- 3
-
third person
- agt
-
agentive case
- clf:family
-
classifier for family
- clf:genr
-
general classifier
- clf:kind
-
classifier for kind
- clf:long
-
classifier for long objects
- clf:man
-
classifier for human
- clf:meal
-
classifier for meal
- clf:thin
-
classifier for thin objects and birds
- cop:animate
-
copula for animate CDR
- cop:contain
-
copula for contained CDR
- cop:equative
-
equative copula
- cop:generic
-
copula for generic CDR
- cop:hono
-
copula for honorific CDR
- cop:inanimate
-
copula for inanimate CDR
- cop:mix
-
copula for mixed CDR
- cop:move
-
copula for movable CDR
- cop:upright
-
copula for upright CDR
- cop:neg
-
copula with negative sense
- d.m
-
discourse marker
- dem
-
demonstrative
- direct
-
direct evidential
- down
-
downward direction
- ds
-
downstream direction
- ego
-
egophoricity
- eng
-
engagement
- excl
-
exclusive
- gen
-
genitive
- gno
-
gnomic aspect
- impf
-
imperfective
- incl
-
inclusive
- ins
-
instrumental
- intrg
-
interrogative
- loc
-
locative
- mir
-
mirativity
- neg
-
negative
- nmlz
-
nominalizer
- nons
-
non-specific direction
- nsg
-
non-singular
- obl
-
oblique
- par
-
particle
- pfv
-
perfective
- pl
-
plural
- pn
-
proper noun
- poss
-
possessive
- refl
-
reflexive
- sg
-
singular
- tl
-
translocative direction
- up
-
upward direction
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