Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/68726

Koryak copula sentences are formed by either personal copulas, which are derived from independent personal pronouns, or the copula verbs it'be'or tva'exist'with the predicate nominal marked in the essive case. The present paper examines the conditionality of the switch between the two types of copulas. According to Stassen (2003), this is a type of nominal and locational switching and can be interpreted as a case of'Permanency Parameter', which induces an opposition between'essence'and contingence. However, in Koryak, even the personal copula, which is not expected to co-occur with temporal adverbs such as'now','temporarily','yet','for three years', and'in this year', can co-occur with such adverbs. Furthermore, predicate nominals that refer to the subject of inherent and unchangeable character can coexist with the copula verb, in some contrastive context such as'not A but B'. The present examination reveals that, judging from these facts, the switch is conditioned by how the subject is perceived by the speaker rather than by the physical duration of the subject. Through this examination, this paper also demonstrates that Koryak shows idiosyncrasy in that it exhibits switching in all semantic classes, including'Event', 'Property','Class', and'Locational'. Clarification of the factors behind this idiosyncrasy remains to be sought through future research.