Continuing the discussion from O ye farali jugulu kan:
Hello, I have a question about ye in this sentence. Doesn’t it usually have to have a noun and a verb after it to if it’s an copula, and a noun and then ye again at the end if it’s a post-position? Is it different in Jula where there doesn’t have to be a second ye?
This also brings up my other question in sentences like Ò kɔ́rɔ` yé dì where you ask a question because ye is many times used in the regular ways I just mentioned.
Thanks
Hi Malik!
The specific sentence that you are asking about is obviously a tricky one, so it’s not the best example, but the short answer is that oftentimes people don’t say the second ye of an equative construction (ye...ye; for example N ye kalanden ye, etc).
N tɔgɔ ye Coleman (ye)
‘My name is Coleman’
Or:
O kɔrɔ ye…
‘That thing’s meaning is…’
It has nothing to do with Jula vs Bambara. It happens in both. And the line O ye farali jugulu kan is technically Maninka more than Jula since it comes from Oumou Sangaré who is from Wasulu in Mali.
In that sentence, the hypothesis was that it was ye being used as a copula without a postposition ye at the end:
O ye farali jugulu kan
That COP addition ennemies on
In equative constructions, the first ye is considered a copula and the second ye is considered a postposition. For example: N ye kalanden ye.
In verbal sentences in “the past”, ye is a predicate marker or auxiliary. Sometimes linguists call it a TAM (tense-aspect-mood) marker. For example: N ye dumuni kɛ.