The Glottalization of Copula Shi in Wu Dialects:A Study Based on the Description of Copula Constructions in Linhai Dialect
This paper provides a comprehensive study on the copula shi[zɿ/zə(?)]in the Linhai(Gucheng)dialect,a variety of Taizhou Wu dialects.Grammatically,shi can fulfill its core function as the copula in nominal predicate constructions,encoding both equational and classificational mean-ings.Shi can be reinterpreted as focus marker and presentative marker,but it cannot serve as topic marker,emphatic adverb or the response particle for imperative clauses.Phonetically,shi is realized as two complementary distributed forms,which is a common phenomenon for copulas in Taizhou Wu(especially in Linhai and Xianju),Wuzhou Wu and Chuzhou Wu subgroups.One form of shi with non-entering tone can be used at the sentence-final position,collocate with negator fu[fə(?)](no)and appear in pro-sentence zhengshi(actually,indeed),while the other form with entering tone occurs in the rest cases.In combination with cross-dialectal evidence,this paper argues that to some extent the non-entering shi is capable of bearing heavier semantic burden.Given the geographical discrepancy on the use of glottalized shi,it is vital to investigate the glottalization of copula on both syntactic and morphological levels.
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