Datapoint San Andres Creole English/Predicative locative phrases

Sentences with a copula are more frequent than sentences without. It seems that the decisive factor which makes the use of the copula obligatory in some sentences and optional in others is sentence rhythm.

Values

Variable copula

Example 10-166:
Beda Taiga de iin de ded.
Beda
Brother
Taiga
Tiger
de
cop.loc
iin
in
de
dem.loc
ded.
dead
Brother Tiger was in there dead.
Example 10-167:
Gud bifoo yu an bad bihain yu.
Gud
good
bifoo
before
yu
2sg
an
and
bad
bad
bihain
behind
yu.
2sg
Good is in front of you and bad is behind you.
Example 10-168:
Di daag de anda di tiebl.
Di
art.def
daag
dog
de
cop.loc
anda
under
di
art.def
tiebl.
table
The dog is under the table.
Example 10-169:
Nelcy de huom.
Nelcy
Nelcy
de
cop.loc
huom.
home
Nelcy is at home.
Confidence:
Very certain