Datapoint Casamancese Creole/Predicative noun phrases

Etymologically, the i of Example 116 may well be (at least partly) derived from the Portuguese personal pronominal ele (see various publications of Kihm (on Guinea-Bissau Kriyol) and Baptista (on Capeverdean) about this topic). However, in synchrony and in such a sentence as Joŋ ø i piskador 'John is a fisherman', i behaves just as another verbal predicate or another copula: see Example 120 Joŋ ø sá piskador 'John is now (=has turned into) a fisherman'), where sa behaves syntactically exactly the same way as i in Example 116.

Values

Invariant copula

Example 34-116:
Joŋ i piskador.
Joŋ
John
ø
pfv
i
cop
piskador.
fisherman
John is a fisherman.
Example 34-120:
Joŋ i piskador. — Joŋ sá piskador.
Joŋ
John
ø
pfv
i
cop
piskador.
fisherman
—
 
Joŋ
John
ø
pfv
sá
cop
piskador.
fisherman
John is a fisherman. — John is now (has turned into) a fisherman.
Confidence:
Very certain