Although Bryatesle's copula is mostly absent, having been replaced by other intransitive verbs that take complements, it has left some traces in rather specific syntactical contexts. Meanwhile, several dialectal copulas exist, with rather stunningly different origins. This essay covers a fair share of copula-adjacent shenanigans.
The proto-Bryatesle-Dairwueh copula
In an early stage of proto-BD, one can posit that the copula had the following forms:
sg pl
1 ji(tju)n jitjam
2 ji(tju)r jihine (jitjune also for pl)
3.I jider jides (jitju also attested for both singular and plural)
3.II ji(tju)m ji(t)ver
3.fem jiden / jiden (or jitjen)
The copula did not have a perfective/imperfective distinction, but did have a past tense form, and an exceptional feminine form:
sg pl
1 tin tim
2 tir tine
3.I ta tas
3.II tem (t)ver
3.fem tiden
The feminine form seems mainly to have been used as a third person feminine marker, but sometimes, it has been used in other persons as well.
A different non-verbal copula was used for punctual past, viz. invariable "kund", a word whose cognate "gan" serves as a contrastive conjunction ('but') in Dairwueh, and the cognate "kul" serves as an abessive marker in tarist.
2. Retentions of the copula forms
In comparisons
In comparisons, the standard of the comparison often is followed by a simplified copula. The person marking has been reduced to jir (sg) vs. jes (pl). This still follows the number of the standard of comparison, regardless of the case it is in.
Resumptive functions
The third person forms are sometimes used as resumptive subject pronouns in subclauses.
Some subclauses
These forms can all book-end (i.e. introduce or end) certain types of subclauses, e.g. relative subclauses, that-clauses (complements of 'say' and such, especially when the speech is not a direct quote).
Some adverbs
Some adverbs have -(j)im- or -ta- as a derivative affix. Examples:
jimuake 'it is enough'
jivruake 'they are enough'
jimarta 'fortunately'
jindegug 'already' (sometimes ingidug)
jimkanu, jinkanu 'still'
takyrs 'certainly' ('was yes')
Strong affirmation
The third person forms sg jider, pl jides (f jiden) are often used as a positive enforcing verb, coordinated with the main verb. However, the feminine form is restricted to formal speech and a few dialects, being replaced by the masculine in most dialects and registers.
Negating existence or presence
The negative particle, when negating existence or presence of a subject or object, can take a prefix jim-/jid-.
Presence or location
Some locative expressions take these as suffixes to denote being at a location. This can be used to closer tie a locative to the subject, in case the relation between location, subject and other argument is unclear. So, e.g. 'kauda' means 'at home', but 'jirkauda'(sg)/'jinkauda'(pl) specifically means '(the subject is) at the subject's home'. As opposed to 'we visited him at home'. If the subject is first person, you sometimes get 'jinkauda', and this is also a common answer as to the question where someone was, if they were at home.
Verb suffixes
Some verbs clearly derive from the copula affixing onto a stem. This can be found at both edges of the stem:
kerjider - has a certain duration
jidranu - persists, endures
Such verbs often have slightly irregular inflection.
Copula-like words
These are the copulas or copula-like words we find traces of, each having at some time, in some dialect or in some cognate language taken on a copula-like function:
- sikn > siku, an essive postposition, from an adjective meaning 'similar', even previously from a word meaning 'face' (sargalk cognate: šek'an > ch'ešn, 'chin', Dairwueh cognates sinzet - 'facial expression', but also sinze - 'in front of'); in Tarist, the cognate (sik(n)) is the stem for the copula. The 'heyday' of this copula from a Bryatesle vantage point was proto-Bryatotarist. Western Tarist uses it both as a copula and an essive marker.
- kund, a contrastive conjunction (like English but), which eventually came to be an emphatic copula in some southern dialects. The cognate gən in Dairwueh signifies 'and then', in Tarist, kund signifies 'without'. In northwestern Bryatesle, kund is sometimes used as a past tense copula, and was more widely used as such in early Bryatesle.
- yan, (P-BD zgam) an originally essive preposition. By Proto-Bryatesle, this had mainly become an affirmative particle, but also a resumptive ~pronoun. The cognate in Dairwueh, zam, expresses 'emphatic self' as well as exclusive specification, and is also the origin of the -ŋa-series of passive present markers. In some insular dialects, this is still used before nominal complements of any verb that is used as a copula. In older texts, and southeastern dialects, this sometimes is used as a standalone present tense copula.
- The "continuous value copula" of proto-Bryatesle-Dairwueh:
ıtıwn | ıtırw | ıtıw
ıtıkw | ıtıwv | ıtıwvə
which however early on lost its first and second person forms for a uniform ıtıu > jıtju, from which new forms emerged (the present tense table given above). In Dairwueh, the cognate hidze is used for expressing quantities and durations, and in the causative is the stem for the verb 'to count'. The Tarist cognate itsju expresses 'exceed' in comparisons. No known Sargalk cognate. - The Proto-Bryatesle-Dairwueh binary state copula,
k'ıx | kı'rp | k'ıxw
k'ıko | k'ıwo | k'ıwə
which similarly lost all forms but kıxw > kıvu by Proto-Bryatesle.
In Sargalk, a cognate tš'i- is used both for polar questions and emphatic confirmation. In Bryatesle, it has come to stand in either-or-questions kıvu A kıvu B? - The existential particle nıd, whose Tarist cognate nidi- signifies "be alive". In Sargalk, the adverb nurne, signifying 'even now, still, continuing' might originate with the same stem, as might the verb nuvu- 'to remain, to be alive, (to wait)'. Dairwueh nirzes - nourishment, and neze - 'for the duration of' might also be cognate. This particle also is part of several Bryatesle nouns and verbs, such as nidmar - nourishment, nidtul - to survive, nidnyr - birth. Beyond its role as an (emphatic) existential particle in Bryatesle, in some southern dialects it can be used as a locative copula. At the border towards Tarist, its use as a general copula is attested.
- The demonstrative ~verb 'siš' ('is this one, this one is, here is ..., ... is here') - the dairwueh cognate 'hise' is a reference disambiguator: when a pronoun refers to a following noun, the following noun usually has 'hise' introducing the NP.
- A fairly formal synonym for 'become' seems to be derived from 'was not, is' - datajir (no was is)
