Definition and Examples of the Zero Copula

Definition and Examples of the Zero Copula In grammar, zero copula refers to the absence of an explicit auxiliary verb (usually a form of the verb be) in certain constructions where it is customarily found in standard English. Also called copula deletion  or understood copula. In their book Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English (Wiley, 2000), John R. Rickford and Russell J. Rickford note that the zero copula is one of the most distinctive and identity-affirming characteristics of ​African-American Vernacular English  (AAVE). Examples and Observations I dont say stuff to people most of the time. Mostly I just look at them like they stupid.(Katherine S. Newman, No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City. Random House, 2000)Why she cant come to me? Fanny asked as she passed Mercy off to a neighbor so she could walk faster. Where she been? Where she at now? Fanny asked, wringing her hands. She knew something was wrong.(Bernice L. McFadden, This Bitter Earth. Plume, 2002)The Zero Copula in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE)One of the most interesting characteristics of AAE is the . . . use of the zero copula. As [William] Labov (1969) has explained, the rule for its use is really quite simple. If you can contract be in SE [Standard English], you can delete it in AAE. That is, since He is nice can be contracted to Hes nice in SE, it can become He nice in AAE. Likewise, But everybodys not black can become But everybody not black. . . .We should note that the zero copula is very rarely found in the speech of whites, even poor southern whites. Not all blacks use it either.(Ronald Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 6th ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) ​\ Factors Governing the Use of the Zero Copula [Toya A.] Wyatt (1991) found that AAE preschoolers were more likely to use zero copula: after pronoun subjects (56%) rather than noun subjects (21%); before locative predicates (35%) and adjective predicates (27%) rather than noun predicates (18%); and in second person singular and plural predicates (45%) rather than third person singular predicates (19%). In addition, the zero copula occurred less than 1% of the time in past tense, first person singular, and final clause contexts. This suggests that as early as three years of age, AAE child speakers not only acquire the basic grammatical features of AAE but also the language-specific variable rules that govern their use (Wyatt 1996).(Toya A. Wyatt, Childrens Acquisition and Maintenance of AAE. Sociocultural and Historical Contexts of African American English, ed. by Sonja L. Lanehart. John Benjamins, 2001) I hold Jinggaya. Jinggaya, you all right? I ask. I got bad fear she hurt.Yes, yes, she say. I all right. You all right?(Andrew Parkin, A Thing Apart. Troubador, 2002) Zero Copula and Pidgins Zero copula is probably the single feature most readily associated with pidgins. . . . However, it is not an exclusively pidgin feature by any means. . . . Thus, while zero copula may exist, or have existed at some time, in all pidgins, it is not a feature which distinguishes pidgins from other languages.(Philip Baker, Some Developmental Inferences From Historical Studies of Pidgins and Creoles. The Early Stages of Creolization, ed. by Jacques Arends. John Benjamins, 1995) Suddenly the managers boy put his insolent black head in the doorway, and said in a tone of scathing contemptMistah Kurtzhe dead.(Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, 1903)

7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation

7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation 7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation 7 Tips for Using Suspensive Hyphenation By Mark Nichol Often, when both items in a pair of hyphenated phrases have a common element, the first instance of that element can be elided, or omitted, without erasing the connection; the incomplete phrase is implied to have the same form as the complete one. However, as shown in these examples, it’s essential to treat the phrases, especially their hyphens, correctly: 1. â€Å"The holding pond’s collapse sent more than a billion gallons of arsenic and mercury-laden sludge into the river.† The sludge was laden with a combination of arsenic and mercury; arsenic was not released separately from mercury-laden sludge. Because laden can serve to team up with both arsenic and mercury, it is omitted from where it might first appear; the phrase â€Å"arsenic-laden† is merely implied. A hyphen is attached to arsenic to express the elision: â€Å"The holding pond’s collapse sent more than a billion gallons of arsenic- and mercury-laden sludge into the river.† 2. â€Å"The company provides small- and medium-size businesses with service and support.† The hyphen following small implies that â€Å"small-size† is the intended construction, but size is not appropriate in association with small: â€Å"The company provides small and medium-size businesses with service and support.† 3. â€Å"The 1-2 year old wolf is still a baby.† The confusing adjective string before wolf is meant to express that the animal is either a 1-year-old or a 2-year-old. You can write that an animal is 1-2 years old, but here you must hyphenate the construction â€Å"(number)-year-old† to modify the noun that follows. The correct full form of the sentence would be â€Å"The 1-year-old to 2-year-old wolf is still a baby,† but the first instance of â€Å"year-old† can be elided: â€Å"The 1- to 2-year-old wolf is still a baby.† Note the letter space following 1 this element has no connection to to, so don’t connect them. 4. â€Å"Marc Antony was seen as Cleopatra’s drink-and-love besotted dupe.† The trainlike coupling of â€Å"drink-and-love† makes no grammatical sense. Observers thought of Marc Antony as separately besotted by drink and love, so he was a drink-besotted dope and a love-besotted dope, or, as follows: â€Å"Marc Antony was seen as Cleopatra’s drink- and love-besotted dupe.† 5. â€Å"The difference between pre- and post-Civil War attitudes was profound.† The elision of â€Å"Civil War† after pre- is correct, but when a prefix or suffix is attached (or implied to attach) to a proper noun or to more than one term, a sturdy en dash is called in to substitute for the little hyphen: â€Å"The difference between pre and postCivil War attitudes was profound.† 6. â€Å"She felt underpaid and -appreciated.† Though use of suspensive hyphenation in the case of words with otherwise closed prefixes (â€Å"The fund was alternately over- and underfunded†) is correct, avoid applying it with closed suffixes: â€Å"She felt underpaid and underappreciated.† 7. â€Å"The box contained a stack of 3- by 5-inch cards.† By signals that this sentence does not refer to 3-inch cards and 5-inch cards; this statement is in a separate class. When two dimensions refer to a single object, link the entire phrasal adjective together: â€Å"The box contained a stack of 3-by-5-inch cards.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Meaning of "To a T"80 Idioms with the Word TimeI wish I were...