Predication and Equation in Copular Sentences: Russian vs. English

Abstract

The paper explores the mapping between the syntax and semantics of copular sentences in Russian in comparison to English. It argues for a single underlying semantics of the copula in predicational, equative and specificational sentences in both languages. The paper derives the invariant semantics for the three types of copular sentence and explores how this invariant semantics is mapped to the syntactic structure in the two languages. Predicational sentences are assumed to be the basic type of copular sentence. The difference in interpretation between predicational, equative and specificational copular sentences is explained with the help of the ident type-shift, which enters the semantic composition of equative and specificational sentences at different places.