Uyghur Predicative - The Verb-predicate Structure

Uyghur predicative-copula predicate structure is a new argument in Uyghur. Reviewing the previous studies of Uyghur syntax, it is not difficult to find that those studies have only mentioned the syntactic compositions such as subject, object, attribute, adverbial and predicate; and we can rarely find the term of predicative. There wasn't even an explanation of what the predicative was. Accordingly, the linguistic phenomenon that is the predicate form of predicative-copula has been in an easily neglected state. Therefore, it is a very important issue to answer these questions such as:"What is the copula? What is the predicative? How many types do Uyghur copulas divide into? Which words and phrases in Uyghur can act as a predicative? What are the main sentences types of predicative-copula predicate structure?" By answering these questions correctly we can fully explain the syntactic characters of Uyghur and can promote the studies of Uyghur grammar in a right direction. All of these contents compose the first chapter of my article.In regard to the Uyghur copula, there are a number of studies in the research of predecessors. However, there was no uniform standard in the copula's classification. Therefore, the Uyghur copulas never get a complete and systematic classification. I tried to reclassify Uyghur copulas according to my own standard, with reference to the previous researches. Finally, I classified Uyghur copula into six main types. Some of these types also divide into smaller types, as a result I listed a total of nine copulas. They are as follows:(1)direct judgment copula:â‘ present tense:-Durâ‘¡past tense:idiâ‘¢future tense:bolidu;(2)indirect judgment copula:ikan,imis;(3)guessing judgment copula:â‘ objective guessing judgment copula: oxsaydu;â‘¡subjective guessing judgment copula:-du;(4)relayed modal copula:dak;(5)omplete copula:bol-;(6)semi-copula:kal-,ciq-.In the above copulas, only-Dur, the present tense form of the direct judgment copula, can be conditionally omitted, others cannot.In addition, it is a rarely mentioned topic that combining the predicative with the copula acts as the predicate in a sentence. In many studies it has been mentioned that some Uyghur static words act directly as a predicate. But in fact, this is a wrong idea. In Uyghur, only the present tense form of the direct judgment copula,-Dur, can conditionally be omitted. This phenomenon makes people feel the illusion that Uyghur static words can act directly as a predicate. In fact, the other eight copulas in Uyghur can't be emitted when they have to appear after the static words. This feature of the Uyghur copula proves that static words do not directly serves as a predicate in Uyghur. Instead, static words serve as a predicate with the help of a copula, that is to say, the combining of the static words and copula act as a predicate. Therefore, The static word which appears in front of the copula is not a predicate, but is instead a predicative. I tried to give a definition to the predicative in Uyghur. On the basis of this definition I found many different words and phrases in Uyghur that act as a predicative. Uyghur static words that act as a predicative are far beyond nouns, adjectives, numerals and pronouns, but that there are many words and phrases which act as predicative in Uyghur as well. Among those words and phrases, there are three word classes that can be a predicative. These word classes are numerals, pronouns, and analog words. In total there are13phrases which can be a predicative (noun phrase, adjective phrase, case phrases, nominalized phrase, adjectivilized phrase, adverb phrase, adverblized phrase, plural phrase, possession phrase, negative phrase, postposition phrase, number-measure structure, and modal particle phrase). I cited from Uyghur written and spoken language to list the words and phrases which act as a predicative. Then, I described some of the syntactic features of Uyghur predicative such as movement of the predicative. In addition to these, I studied the important syntactic features of predicative-copula predicate structure such as nominalized form, conditional-hypothetical form of the structure and empty categories in the structure. All of these compose the second chapter of my article.The Uyghur predicative-copula predicate structure composes many clause types. Based on the formal and semantic features of the structure, I classified this structure into three main clause types, i.e., judgment sentence, existential sentence and modal sentence. The judgment sentence can contain some common sentences like comparative sentences and exclamatory sentences. According to the theoretical framework of Generative Grammar and Language Typology, I gave a more comprehensive study on the syntactic features and semantic types of every clause type. It has a great significance to study Uyghur predicative-copula predicate structure under the framework of Generative Grammar theory. Two important theories of Generative Grammar, Combining and Movement, played an important role in the explanation of the syntactic features of predicative-copula predicate structure in Uighur. Many syntactic phenomenons that traditional grammar could not explain have been fully explained under the guidance of Generative Grammar theory. All of these contents compose the third chapter of my article.I have attached a corpus after the article. This corpus is the main resource of the examples of the article and can be a reference in the depth study of the topic in future.