248 Fiona Me Laughlin
2.4. BASIC CLAUSE TYPES
Wolof exhibits the three basic clause types: transitive, intransitive, and copula
clauses. Adjectives do not function as copula complements but pattern instead as
verbs that generally function as intransitive predicates, although in some cases
they may take a second argument, as in (51) and (52) below.
According to Kihm (1999: 247), Wolof makes a clear distinction between iden-
tificational and predicational sentences that involve a copula or an auxiliary with a
copula function. The Wolof copula proper, which also functions as an imperfective
aspectual marker, namely Idil, is used only in identificational sentences in which
the nominal arguments can be transposed without changing the informational
content of the proposition, as in (22) and (23).
(22) Faatu di sama jangalekat
Fatou COP isg:poss teacher
'Fatou is my teacher'
(23) Yaa di sama soppee
2sg COP isg:poss darling
'You are my darling'
The verbal construction associated with object focus also functions as a copula,
but without the identificational restriction required by di. Examples are given in
(24) and (25).
(24) Faatu sama jangalekat la
Fatou isg:poss teacher 3sg:opoc
'Fatou is my teacher'
(25) Maalik tegg la
Malik blacksmith 3sg:opoc
'Malik is a blacksmith'
Adjectives do not have the function of copula complements in Wolof, but general-
ly occur as intransitive, and occasionally transitive (see (51) and (52) below), predi-
cates. Example (26) illustrates an intransitive clause with a non-adjectival predicate
while example (27) shows a parallel structure for an intransitive clause in which
the predicate is the adjective njool 'tall'. The ungrammatical forms in (28) and (29)
show that adjectives cannot function as copula complements.
(26) Maalik [dafa fw/c/cf]INTRANSITIVE PREDICATE
Malik 3Sg:VFOC v:travel
'Malik has gone on a trip'
(27) Maalik[dafa njool] INTRANSITIVE PREDICATE
Malik 3Sg:VFOC ADj:tall
'Malik is tall'