cop: copula
A copula is the relation between the complement of a copular verb and the copular verb essere (in Italian this is the only verb that can be a copula). The copula be is not treated as the head of a clause, but rather as the dependent of a lexical predicate, as exemplified below, which can be an adjective, a noun or a pronoun.
I cinque sarebbero tutti immigrati clandestini
nsubj(immigrati, cinque)
cop(immigrati, sarebbero)
Per questo sono ambiziosi
cop(ambiziosi, sono)
Secondo l' Onu sono 200 mila le persone
nsubj(mila, persone)
compound(mila, 200)
cop(mila, sono)
In predicative wh-constructions, the fronted wh-word is the head, and the copula is another cop.
Qual è la capitale della Nuova Zelanda ?
nsubj(Qual, capitale)
cop(Qual, è)
If the copula comes together another verbal auxiliaries (e.g. because of the tense), they are taken as dependents of the lexical predicate:
Non venne mai chiarito quale formazione era stata responsabile
det(formazione, quale)
nsubj(responsabile, formazione)
aux(responsabile, era)
cop(responsabile, stata)
The verb essere is not always marked as copula, but can also be the main verb of the clause. This analysis is generally adopted when:
- the verb essere is used in presentational or existential constructions where it has an existential or locative meaning;
ROOT Vi sono migliaia di casi di questo genere
root(ROOT, sono)
expl(sono, Vi)
nsubj(sono, migliaia)
ROOT In armeria ci sono 300 armature
root(ROOT, sono)
expl(sono, ci)
nsubj(sono, armeria)
ROOT Il Presidente è in il mirino dei suoi attacchi
root(ROOT, è)
nsubj(è, Presidente)
nmod(è, mirino)
- the predicate is a prepositional phrase, in which case the nominal part of the prepositional phrase is the head of a nmod relation, with a few exception in case of idiomatic forms, such as in forma (in shape).
ROOT La scultura è di il pachistano Hamad Butt
root(ROOT, è)
nsubj(è, scultura)
case(Hamad, di)
det(Hamad, il)
nmod(è, Hamad)
amod(Hamad, pachistano)
name(Hamad, Butt)
ROOT Oggi è in grado di dir ci qualcosa
root(ROOT, è)
nmod(è, grado)
case(grado, in)
acl(grado, dir)
mark(dir, di)
iobj(dir, ci)
Per essere in forma
cop(forma, essere)
case(forma, in)
- the complement of the verb essere is a subordinate clause
ROOT La verità è che la spesa sanitaria sta esplodendo
root(ROOT, è)
nsubj(è, verità)
ccomp(è, esplodendo)
nsubj(esplodendo, spesa)
mark(esplodendo, che)
Treebank Statistics (UD_Italian)
This relation is universal.
3032 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as cop.
2419 instances of cop (80%) are right-to-left (child precedes parent).
Average distance between parent and child is 1.65798153034301.
The following 10 pairs of parts of speech are connected with cop: it-pos/ADJ-it-pos/VERB (1153; 38% instances), it-pos/NOUN-it-pos/VERB (1020; 34% instances), it-pos/PRON-it-pos/VERB (696; 23% instances), it-pos/PROPN-it-pos/VERB (68; 2% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/VERB (34; 1% instances), it-pos/ADV-it-pos/VERB (32; 1% instances), it-pos/NUM-it-pos/VERB (23; 1% instances), it-pos/X-it-pos/VERB (3; 0% instances), it-pos/ADJ-it-pos/AUX (2; 0% instances), it-pos/SYM-it-pos/VERB (1; 0% instances).
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1 È essere VERB V Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 cop _ _
2 vero vero ADJ A Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
3 , , PUNCT FF _ 2 punct _ _
4 tutti tutto PRON PI Gender=Masc|Number=Plur|PronType=Ind 7 nsubjpass _ _
5 possiamo potere AUX VM Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _
6 essere essere AUX VA VerbForm=Inf 7 auxpass _ _
7 sostituiti sostituire VERB V Gender=Masc|Number=Plur|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No
8 . . PUNCT FS _ 2 punct _ _
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1 Questa questo DET DD Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 2 det _ _
2 ricchezza ricchezza NOUN S Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _
3 è essere VERB V Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _
4 tutta tutto PRON PI Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 5 nmod _ _
5 apparenza apparenza NOUN S Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No
6 . . PUNCT FS _ 5 punct _ _
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1 È essere AUX VA Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _
2 stata essere VERB V Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 cop _ _
3 quello quello PRON PD Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 0 root _ _
4 che che PRON PR PronType=Rel 7 dobj _ _
5 ci ci PRON PC PronType=Clit 7 expl _ _
6 si si PRON PC Person=3|PronType=Clit 7 expl:impers _ _
7 attendeva attendere VERB V Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No
8 : : PUNCT FC _ 3 punct _ _
cop in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]