Open AccessCopular sentences in Russian vs. Spanish at the syntax-semantics interface
Author(s) -
Ljudmila Geist
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
zas papers in linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1435-9588
DOI - 10.21248/zaspil.44.2006.303
Subject(s) - linguistics , nominative case , sentence , variation (astronomy) , predicate (mathematical logic) , syntax , computer science , phrase , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , verb , philosophy , programming language , physics , astrophysics
Russian and Spanish each have two variants of the predicational copular sentence. In Russian, the variation concerns the case of the predicate phrase, which can be nominative or instrumental, while in Spanish, the variation involves the choice of the copular verb, either ser or estar. It is shown that the choice of the particular variant of copular sentence in both languages depends on the speaker’s perspective, i.e., on whether or not the predication is linked to a specific topic situation.