Copula (linguistics) - Zero Copula

Zero Copula

In some languages, copula omission occurs within a particular grammatical context. For example, speakers of Russian, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Quechuan languages consistently drop the copula in present tense: Russian: я — человек, ya — chelovek "I (am) a person"; Hungarian: ő ember, "s/he (is) a human"; Arabic: أنا إنسان ʔanā ʔinsān, "I (am) a human"; Hebrew: אני אדם, "I (am a) human"; Southern Quechua: payqa runam "s/he (is) a human". This usage is known generically as the zero copula. Note that in other tenses (sometimes in other persons besides third singular) the copula usually reappears.

In informal speech of English, the copula may be dropped. This is a feature of African American Vernacular English but is also used by a variety of English speakers in informal contexts. An example: "Where you at? We at the store."

In Ancient Greek, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article, the copula is understood. Thus, ὁ οἴκος ἐστὶ μακρός, "the house is large," can be written μακρός ὁ οἴκος, "large the house (is)."

In Quechua —Southern Quechua used for the examples—, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular only (kan): Payqa runam — "(s)he is a human"; but: (paykuna) runakunam kanku "(they) are human".

In Hungarian, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular and plural: Ő ember/Ők emberek — "s/he is a human"/"they are humans"; but: (én) ember vagyok "I am a human", (te) ember vagy "you are a human", mi emberek vagyunk "we are humans", (ti) emberek vagytok "you (all) are humans". The copula also reappears for stating locations: az emberek a házban vannak, "the people are in the house," and for stating time: hat óra van, "it is six o'clock." However, the copula may optionally get omitted in colloquial language: hat óra (van), "it is six o'clock."

Hungarian uses a copula to say Itt van Róbert "Bob is here" (and this not only with regard to third person singular/plural), but not to say Róbert öreg "Bob is old". This is to relate a subject to a more temporary condition/state taking place in space (very often in the sense of Lojban zvati: la rabyrt. zvati ne'i le zdani "Robert is in the house").

Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example, in the Irish language, is, the present tense of the copula, may be omitted when the predicate is a noun. Ba the past/conditional cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the following pronoun é, í, iad preceding the noun is omitted as well.