How to Be is an award-winning independent comedy/drama feature film written and directed by Oliver Irving. It is about a young man named Art, played by Robert Pattinson, who is going through a quarter-life crisis.

Pattinson received the 'Best Actor in a Feature' award for his portrayal of Art, at the Strasbourg International Film Festival, in Strasbourg, France in September 2008.

Plot[link]

Art (Robert Pattinson) is not talented, but aspires to be a musician. He has a dead-end job at a supermarket, despite having a degree (which he doesn't seem to value much). His girlfriend ends their relationship. Art is then forced to move back home with his cold and neglectful parents (played by Rebecca Pidgeon and Michael Irving). Art buys a book titled, It's Not Your Fault. Upon reading it, he tries to follow the self-help book's advice. He decides to use inheritance money to first buy a car, and then pay for a Canadian therapist, Dr. Levi Ellington (Powell Jones), the book's author, to come to his home in England and help Art get his life on track, about which his parents are less than thrilled.

Despite his unsupportive parents, Art attempts with his new life coach and two slightly unbalanced friends Nikki (Mike Pearce) and Ronnie (Johnny White) to find a balance in his life, true happiness, and a good relationship with his parents.

The film also stars Jeremy Hardy as Art's superior at the care centre at which he volunteers.

Distribution[link]

How to Be was released in the United States by IFC Festival Direct on April 29, 2009. Leading up to the release, the director, Oliver Irving, took the film on a U.S. Screening Tour. The DVD was released first in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2009 and was released in the U.S. on November 17, 2009.^[1]

Soundtrack[link]

The How to Be soundtrack was released by Dreamboat Records on April 28. The 23-track collection features three original songs performed by Robert Pattinson, the original score by composer Joe Hastings and electronic music by musician-actor Johnny White, who plays Ronny in the film. It also features "Old Man" by Love, "Clear Spot" by Captain Beefheart and "Hammond Song" by The Roches.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing[link]

1. Opening Credits - Joe Hastings
2. "Chokin' on the Dust" (Part 1) - Robert Pattinson
3. "It's not your fault" - Joe Hastings
4. "Hell Awaits" - The Rollercoaster Project
5. "You don’t actually have things all that bad"
6. "Old Man" - Love
7. "Chokin' on the Dust" (Part 2) - Robert Pattinson
8. "Sometimes we all need a little help" - Joe Hastings
9. "Dr Ellington Arrives" - Joe Hastings
10. "Visualize a time" - Joe Hastings
11. "Jam Session"
12. "1996" - The Rollercoaster Project
13. "Nikki's Song" - Mike Pearce
14. "Puzzle" - Joe Hastings
15. "Cemetery" - Joe Hastings
16. "Off License" - Joe Hastings
17. "Process 1" - The Rollercoaster Project
18. "Clear Spot" - Captain Beefheart
19. "Hammond Song" - The Roches
20. "Final Call" - Joe Hastings
21. "You're not a nobody"
22. "Doin' Fine" - Robert Pattinson
23. End Credits - (Joe Hastings)

Reception[link]

Film festivals[link]

How to Be had its world premiere at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Honorable Mention.^[2] It has since been chosen to appear at:

• Rhode Island International Film Festival (August 5-10, 2008)^[3]
• Strasbourg International Film Festival, where it was the opening night film (September 12-21, 2008)^[4][5]
• Calgary International Film Festival (September 19-28, 2008)^[3][5]
• Derby City Film Festival (October 8-12th, 2008)^[6]
• New Orleans Film Festival (October 10-16, 2008)^[5]
• Indie 2008 Film Festival, Brazil (October 10-16, 2008)^[5]
• Austin Film Festival (October 16-23)^[7]
• Gotham Screen New York International Festival (October 31 & November 1, 2008)^[8]
• Lone Star International Film Festival (November 12-16, 2008)^[9][10]
• Cinequest Film Festival (February 28th and March 2nd, 2009)
• Durango Film Festival (March 4th-8th, 2009)
• George Lindsey UNA Film Festival (March 5th-8th, 2009)
• Chicago International Movie and Music Festival (March 8th, 2009)
• DC Independent Film Festival (March 8th, 2009)
• Burbank International Film Festival (March 27th, 2009)
• Las Vegas International Film Festival (April 9th-12th 2009)
• California Independent Film Festival (April 16th 2009
• 22nd Singapore Internation Film Festival (April 25th 2009)
• First Glance Hollywood Film Festival (May 1st-3rd, 2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• How to Be at the Internet Movie Database
• How to Be Official Website
• Making of Europe Making of Documentary Exceprts

In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae) is a word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (a subject complement). The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things.^[1]

A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case.^[2] A verb that is a copula is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. In English primary education grammar courses, a copula is often called a linking verb. Other copulas show more resemblances to pronouns. This is the case for Classical Chinese and Guarani, for instance. In highly synthetic languages, copulas are often suffixes, attached to a noun, that may still behave otherwise like ordinary verbs, for example -u- in Inuit languages. In some other languages, such as Beja and Ket, the copula takes the form of suffixes that attach to a noun but are distinct from the person agreement markers used on predicative verbs.^[3] This phenomenon is known as nonverbal person agreement or nonverbal subject agreement and the relevant markers are always established as deriving from cliticised independent pronouns.

In general, the term copula is used to refer to the main copular verb(s) in a language. In the case of English, this is the verb to be. The term can also be used to refer to some other verbs in the language that fulfill similar functions. Other English copulas include to become, to get, to feel, and to seem. Other verbs can have secondary uses as copulative verbs. In the following example, the past tense of the verb to fall is used as a copula: "The zebra fell victim to the lion." These extra copulas are sometimes called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas".

Most languages have one main copula, but some languages, like Spanish and Thai, have more than one, and some have none.

English[link]

Copulas have multiple uses.

Use[link]

Several uses of the copula can be categorized:

• Identity: "I only want to be myself." "When the area behind the dam fills, it will be a lake." "The Morning Star is the Evening Star." "Boys will be boys."

• Class membership. To belong to a set or class: "She could be a nurse." "Dogs are canines." "Moscow is a large city." Depending on one's point of view, all other uses can be considered derivatives of this use, including the following non-copular uses in English, as they all express a subset relationship.

• Predication (property and relation attribution): "It hurts to be blue." "Will that house be big enough?" "The hen is next to the cockerel." "I am confused." Such attributes may also relate to temporary conditions as well as inherent qualities: "I will be tired after running." "Will you be going to the play tomorrow?" but please note that a linking verb has nothing to do with these so called "Be"- verbs (see below).

Non-copular uses[link]

• The verb that often is used as a copula can also be used as an auxiliary verb:
  • To form the passive voice: "I was told that you wanted to see me"
  • To form progressive tenses in English: "It is raining"
• "To be" also has a non-copular use meaning "to exist" (existential verb): "I want only to be, and that is enough." "To be or not to be, that is the question." "I think therefore I am."

The auxiliary verb function derives from the copular function; and, depending on one's point of view, one can still interpret the verb as a copula and the following verbal form as being adjectival. Abelard in his Dialectica made an argument against the idea that the copula can express existence based on a reductio ad absurdum.^[4]

Copula omission[link]

In informal speech of English, the copula may be dropped. This is a feature of African American Vernacular English but is also used by a variety of English speakers in informal contexts.^[5] An example: "Where you at? We at the store."

Double copula[link]

The double copula is the use of two successive copulas when only one is necessary, as in My point is, is that.... Use of the double copula is one of the disputes in English grammar.

Conjugation[link]

As in most Indo-European languages, the English copula is the most irregular verb because of constant use. Most English verbs (traditionally known as "weak verbs") have just four separate forms, e.g., "start", "starts", "starting", "started". A sizable minority (traditionally known as "strong verbs") have five separate forms, e.g., "begin", "begins", "beginning", "began", "begun". "To be" is a very special case in having eight forms: "be", "am", "is", "are", "being", "was", "were", "been". At one time, it had even more, including "art", "wast", "wert", and, on occasion, "beest" as a subjunctive.

Subset relator[link]

From one perspective, the copula always relates two things as subsets. Take the following examples:

1. John is a doctor.
2. John and Mary are doctors.
3. Doctors are educated.
4. Mary is running.
5. Running is fun.

Example 1 includes John in the set of all doctors. Example 2 includes John and Mary both in the set of all doctors. Example 3 includes the set of doctors in the set of those who are educated.

Example 4 is different. Example 4 includes Mary's state at the time of utterance in the set of states consistent with running. Example 5 then includes the set of states consistent with running in the set of states consistent with fun.

Distinguishing between a copula and an action verb[link]

A copula and an action verb can generally be differentiated by trying to substitute the verb with a form of "to seem" or "to be".

• Example of an Action Verb: Sam looks at lettuce. Sam seems at lettuce? Sam is at lettuce? The latter two don't make sense, so "looks" in this case is being used as an action verb.

• Example of a Copula: Sam looks happy. Sam seems happy? Sam is happy? The latter two make sense; "looks" is used as a copula in this case.

Note that this approach falters, in part, with the verb "to appear". In the sentence "Sam appears to be happy", "appears" is a copula. Yet, "seems" but not "is" can be substituted: "Sam is to be happy" means something else entirely.

Copulas in other languages[link]

In Indo-European languages, the words meaning "to be" often sound similar to each other. Due to the high frequency of their use, their inflection retains a considerable degree of similarity in some cases. Thus, for example, the English form is is an apparent cognate of German ist, Latin est and Russian jest', even though the Germanic, Italic, and Slavic language groups split at least three thousand years ago. The origins of the Indo-European copulae can be traced back to four different stems *es- (*h₁es-), *sta- (*steh₂-), *wes- and *bhu- (*bʰuH-) in most Indo-European languages.

Georgian and German[link]

As in English, the verb "to be" (qopna) is irregular in Georgian (a Kartvelian language); different verb roots are employed in different tenses. The roots -ar-, -kn-, -qav-, and -qop- (past participle) are used in the present tense, future tense, past tense and the perfective tenses respectively. Examples:

Masc'avlebeli var.	"I am a teacher."
Masc'avlebeli viknebi.	"I will be a teacher."
Masc'avlebeli viqavi.	"I was a teacher."
Masc'avlebeli vqopilvar.	"I have been a teacher."
Masc'avlebeli vqopiliqavi.	"I had been a teacher."

Note that, in the last two examples (perfect and pluperfect), two roots are used in one verb compound. In the perfective tense, the root qop (which is the expected root for the perfective tense) is followed by the root ar, which is the root for the present tense. In the pluperfective tense, again, the root qop is followed by the past tense root qav. This formation is very similar to German (an Indo-European language), where the perfect and the pluperfect are expressed in the following way:

Ich bin Lehrer gewesen.	"I have been a teacher", literally "I am teacher been."
Ich war Lehrer gewesen.	"I had been a teacher", literally "I was teacher been."

Here, gewesen is the past participle of sein ("to be") in German. In both examples, as in Georgian, this participle is used together with the present and the past forms of the verb in order to conjugate for the perfect and the pluperfect aspects.

Zero copula (Semitic languages, Quechuan languages, Hungarian, Russian, Ancient Greek)[link]

In some languages, copula omission occurs within a particular grammatical context. For example, speakers of Russian, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Quechuan languages consistently drop the copula in present tense: Russian: я — человек, ya — chelovek "I (am) a person"; Hungarian: ő ember, "s/he (is) a human"; Arabic: أنا إنسان ʔanā ʔinsān, "I am human"; Hebrew: אני אדם, "I (am a) human"; Southern Quechua: payqa runam "s/he (is) a human". This usage is known generically as the zero copula. Note that in other tenses (sometimes in other persons besides third singular) the copula usually reappears.

In Ancient Greek, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article, the copula is understood. Thus, ὁ οἴκος ἐστὶ μακρός, "the house is large," can be written μακρός ὁ οἴκος, "large the house (is)."

In Quechua —Southern Quechua used for the examples—, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular only (kan): Payqa runam  — "(s)he is a human"; but: (paykuna) runakunam kanku "(they) are human".

In Hungarian, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular and plural: Ő ember/Ők emberek — "s/he is a human"/"they are humans"; but: (én) ember vagyok "I am a human", (te) ember vagy "you are a human", mi emberek vagyunk "we are humans", (ti) emberek vagytok "you (all) are humans". The copula also reappears for stating locations: az emberek a házban vannak, "the people are in the house," and for stating time: hat óra van, "it is six o'clock." However, the copula may optionally get omitted in colloquial language: hat óra (van), "it is six o'clock."

Hungarian uses a copula to say Itt van Róbert "Bob is here" (and this not only with regard to third person singular/plural), but not to say Róbert öreg "Bob is old". This is to relate a subject to a more temporary condition/state taking place in space (very often in the sense of Lojban zvati: la rabyrt. zvati ne'i le zdani "Robert is in the house").

Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example, in the Irish language, is, the present tense of the copula, may be omitted when the predicate is a noun. Ba the past/conditional cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the following pronoun é, í, iad preceding the noun is omitted as well.

Essence versus state[link]

Romance copulae usually consist of two different verbs that can be translated as "to be", the main one from the Latin esse (via Vulgar Latin essere; esse deriving from *es-), often referenced as sum, another of the Latin verb's principal parts), and a secondary one from stare (from *sta-), often referenced as sto, another of that Latin verb's principal parts. The resulting distinction in the modern forms is found in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and to a lesser extent Italian, but not in French or Romanian. The difference is that the first usually refers to essential characteristics, while the second refers to states and situations, e.g., "Bob is old" versus "Bob is well". A similar division is found in the non-Romance Basque language (viz. egon and izan). (Note that the English words just used, "essential" and "state", are also cognate with the Latin infinitives esse and stare.) In Spanish, the high degree of verbal inflection, plus the existence of two copulas (ser and estar), means that there are 105 separate forms to express the copula, compared to eight in English and one in Chinese.

In some cases, the verb itself changes the meaning of the adjective/sentence. The following examples are from Portuguese:

In certain languages, not only are there two copulas but the syntax is also changed when one is distinguishing between states or situations and essential characteristics. For example, in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, describing the subject's state or situation typically uses the normal VSO ordering with the verb bí. The copula is, which is used to state essential characteristics or equivalences, requires a change in word order so that the subject does not immediately follow the copula (see Irish syntax).

In Slavic languages, a similar distinction is made by putting a state in the instrumental case, while characteristics are in the nominative. This is used with all the copulas (e.g., "become" is normally used with the instrumental). It also allows the distinction to be made when the copula is omitted (zero copula) in East Slavic languages (in other Slavic languages the copula is not omitted).

Irish[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In Irish, the copula is used for things that are in a permanent state.

Is fear Liam	"Liam is a man"	(lit., is man Liam)
Is leabhar é sin	"That is a book"	(lit., is book it that)

The word "is" is the copula (rhymes with the English word "hiss"). The pronoun used with the copula is different from the normal pronoun. For a masculine singular noun, "é" is used (for "he" or "it"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "sé"; for a feminine singular noun, "í" is used (for "she" or "it"), as opposed to normal pronoun "sí"; for plural nouns, "iad" is used (for "they" or "those"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "siad".^[6]

To describe non-permanent states, "to be" is used, e.g., Tá mé ag rith "I am running".

This system resembles the Essence versus state distinction of the Romance copula.

Haitian Creole[link]

Haitian Creole, a French-based creole language, has a reputation as being rather exotic from a linguistic standpoint when compared to French and the other Romance languages; its copula system is one of the exotic linguistic features. It has three forms of the copula: se, ye, and the zero copula, no word at all (the position of which will be indicated with Ø, just for purposes of illustration).

Although no textual record exists of Haitian at its earliest stages of development from French, se is derived from French [se] (written c'est), which is the normal French contraction of [sə] (that, written ce) and the copula [e] (is, written est) (a form of the verb être). Note that French had long since lost any Latin esse/stare distinction by time of the colonization of Haiti, and so no such distinction appears in Haitian Creole.

The derivation of ye is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was [ile] ("he/it is", written il est), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as [je] (typically written y est).

The use of a zero copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian was first developing as a Romance-based pidgin. Latin also sometimes used a zero copula.

Which of se / ye / Ø is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in the following four rules:

1. Use Ø (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:

Li te Ø an Ayiti.	"She was in Haiti."	(she past-tense in Haiti)
Liv-la Ø jon.	"The book is yellow."	(book-the yellow)
Timoun-yo Ø lakay.	"The kids are [at] home."	(kids-the home)

2. Use se when the complement is a noun phrase. But note that, whereas other verbs come after any tense/mood/aspect particles (like pa to mark negation, or te to explicitly mark past tense, or ap to mark progressive aspect), se comes before any such particles:

Chal se ekriven.	"Charles is writer."
Chal se pa ekriven.	"Charles is not writer." cf. with the verb kouri ("run"): Chal pa kouri, not Chal kouri pa.
Chal, ki se ekriven, pa vini.	"Charles, who is writer, not come."

3. Use se where French and English have a dummy "it" subject:

Se mwen!	"It's me!" French C'est moi!
Se pa fasil.	"It's not easy," colloquial French C'est pas facile.

4. Finally, use the other copula form ye in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:

Kijan ou ye?	"How you are?"
Pou kimoun liv-la te ye?	"Whose book was it?"	(of who book-the past-tense is?)
M pa konnen kimoun li ye.	"I don't know who he is."	(I not know who he is)
Se yon ekriven Chal ye.	"Charles is a writer!"	(it's a writer Charles is; cf. French C'est un écrivain qu'il est.)

The above is, however, only a simplified analysis.^[7][8]

Japanese[link]

Japanese has copulas that would most often be translated as one of the so-called be-verbs of English.

The Japanese copula has many forms. The words da and desu are used to predicate sentences, while na and de are particles used within sentences to modify or connect.

Japanese sentences with copulas most often equate one thing with another, that is, they are of the form "A is B." Examples:

私は学生だ。	Watashi wa gakusei da.	"I'm a student."	(lit., I TOPIC student COPULA)
これはペンです。	Kore wa pen desu.	"This is a pen."	(lit., this TOPIC pen COPULA-POLITE)

The difference between da and desu appears simple. For instance desu is more formal and polite than da. Thus, many sentences such as the ones below are almost identical in meaning and differ in the speaker's politeness to the addressee and in nuance of how assured the person is of their statement. However, desu may never come before the end of a sentence, and da is used exclusively to delineate subordinate clauses. In addition, da is always declarative, never interrogative.

あれはホテルだ。	Are wa hoteru da.	"That's a hotel."	(lit., that TOPIC hotel COPULA)
あれはホテルです。	Are wa hoteru desu.	"That is a hotel."	(lit., that TOPIC hotel COPULA-POLITE)

Japanese sentences may be predicated with copulas or with verbs. However, desu may not always be a predicate. In some cases, its only function is to make a sentence predicated with a stative verb more polite. However, da always functions as a predicate, so it cannot be combined with a stative verb, because sentences need only one predicate. See the examples below.

このビールはおいしい。	Kono bīru wa oishii.	"This beer is delicious."	(lit., this beer TOPIC be-tasty)
このビールはおいしいです。	Kono bīru wa oishii desu.	"This beer is good."	(lit., this beer TOPIC be-tasty POLITE)
*このビールはおいしいだ。	*Kono bīru wa oishii da.	This is unacceptable because da may only serve as a predicate.

There are several theories as to the origin of desu; one is that it is a shortened form of であります de arimasu, which is a polite form of である de aru. In general, both forms are used in only writing and more formal situations. Another form, でございます de gozaimasu, which is the more formal version of de arimasu, in the etymological sense a conjugation of でござる de gozaru and an honorific suffix -ます -masu, is also used in some situations and is very polite. Note that de aru and de gozaru are considered to be compounds of a particle で de, and existential verbs aru and gozaru. です desu may be pronounced っす ssu in colloquial speech. The copula is subject to dialectal variation throughout Japan, resulting in forms such as や ya (in Kansai) and じゃ ja (in Hiroshima).

Japanese also has two verbs corresponding to English "to be": aru and iru. They are not copulas but existential verbs. Aru is used for inanimate objects, including plants, whereas iru is used for animate things like people, animals, and robots, though there are exceptions to this generalization.

本はテーブルにある。	Hon wa tēburu ni aru.	"The book is on a table."
キムさんはここにいる。	Kimu-san wa koko ni iru.	"Kim is here."

Japanese people, when learning English, usually drop the auxiliary verbs "be" and "do" due to believing incorrectly that "be" is a semantically empty copula equivalent to "desu" and "da".^[9]

Korean[link]

For sentences with predicate nominatives, the copula "이다" (i-da) is added to the predicate nominative (with no space in between).

바나나는 과일이다.	Ba-na-na-neun gwa-il-i-da..	"Bananas are a fruit."

Some adjectives (usually color adjectives) are nominalized and used with the copula "이다".

1. Without the copula "이다":

바나나는 노랗다.	ba-na-na-neun no-rat-da..	"Bananas are yellow."

2. With the copula "이다":

바나나는 노란색이다.	ba-na-na-neun no-ran-saek-i-da..	"Bananas are yellow-coloured."

Some Korean adjectives are derived using the copula. Separating these articles and nominalizing the former part will often result in a sentence with a related, but different meaning. Using the separated sentence in a situation where the un-separated sentence is appropriate is usually acceptable as the listener can decide what the speaker is trying to say using the context.

아이스크림은 맛있다.	A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-it-da..	"Ice cream is delicious" (The word delicious is derived from "has-flavor")
아이스크림은 맛이 있다.	A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-i it-da..	"Ice cream has flavor"

The opposite, ice cream is unappetizing, uses the Korean word "없다" (eopt-da), meaning "to not have".

아이스크림은 맛없다.	A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mat-eopt-da..	"Ice cream is unappetizing" (The word unappetizing is derived from "doesn't-have-flavor")
아이스크림은 맛이 없다.	A-i-seu-keu-rim-eun mash-i eopt-da..	"Ice cream doesn't have flavor"

Chinese[link]

N.B. The characters used are simplified ones, and the transcriptions given in italics reflect Standard Chinese pronunciation, using the Pinyin system.

In Chinese languages, both states and qualities are, in general, expressed with stative verbs (SV) with no need for a copula, e.g., in Mandarin, "to be tired" (累 lèi), "to be hungry" (饿 è), "to be located at" (在 zài), "to be stupid" (笨 bèn) and so forth. These verbs are usually preceded by an adverb such as 很 hěn ("very") or 不 bù ("not"). A sentence could also simply use a pronoun and a verb: for example, 我饿。 wǒ è. "I am hungry."

Only sentences with a noun as the complement (e.g., "this is my sister") use the verb "to be": 是 shì. This is used frequently: For example, instead of having a verb meaning "to be Chinese", the usual expression is "to be a Chinese person", using 是 shì. Some scholars call this verb form an equative verb (EV), as published in some Yale Chinese textbooks.

The history of the Chinese copula 是 is a controversial subject.^{[citation needed]} Before the Han Dynasty, the character served as a demonstrative pronoun meaning "this" (this usage survives in some idioms and proverbs, as well as in Japanese). Some linguists argue that 是 developed into a copula because it often appeared, as a repetitive subject, after the subject of a sentence (in classical Chinese we can say, for example: "George W. Bush, this president of the United States" meaning "George W. Bush is the president of the United States).^[10] Other scholars do not completely accept the explanation, proposing that 是 served as a demonstrative pronoun and a copula at the same time in ancient Chinese.^{[citation needed]} Etymologically, 是 developed from the meaning of "straight"; in modern Chinese, however, it can be combined with the modifier 的 de to mean "yes" or to show agreement. e.g. Question: 你的汽车是不是红色的？ nǐ de qìchē shì bú shì hóngsè de? "Is your car red or not?" Response: 是的。 shì de. "Is.", meaning "Yes.", or 不是。 bú shì. "Not is.", meaning "No." A more common way of showing that the person asking the question is correct is by simply saying "right" or "correct", 对 duì, which drops the modifier 的 de; the corresponding negative answer is 不对 bú duì, "Not right."

In Hokkien 是 sī acts as the copula, and 是 /z/ is the equivalent in Wu Chinese. Cantonese uses 係 (Jyutping: hai6) instead of 是; similarly, Hakka uses 係 he⁵⁵.

Siouan languages[link]

In Siouan languages like Lakota, in principle almost all words — according to their structure — are verbs. So, not very unlike in Lojban (see below), not only (transitive, intransitive and so-called 'stative') verbs but even nouns often behave like verbs and do not need to have copulas.

For example, the word wičháša refers to a man, and the verb "to-be-a-man" is expressed as wimáčhaša/winíčhaša/wičháša (I am/you are/he is a man). Yet there also is a copula héčha (to be a ...) that in most cases is used: wičháša hemáčha/heníčha/héčha (I am/you are/he is a man).

In order to express the statement "I am a doctor of profession," one has to say pezuta wičháša hemáčha. But, in order to express that that person is THE doctor (say, that had been phoned to help), one must use another copula iyé (to be the one): pežúta wičháša (kiŋ) miyé yeló (medicine-man DEF ART I-am-the-one MALE ASSERT).

In order to refer to space (e.g., Robert is in the house), various verbs are used, e.g., yaŋkÁ (lit.: to sit) for humans, or háŋ/hé (to stand upright) for inanimate objects of a certain shape. "Robert is in the house" could be translated as Robert thimáhel yaŋké (yeló), whereas "there's one restaurant next to the gas station" translates as "owótethipi wígli-oínažiŋ kiŋ hél isákhib waŋ hé".

Constructed languages[link]

The constructed language Lojban has copulas, but they are rarely used, and are sometimes viewed with distaste in the Lojban community, because all words that express a predicate can be used as verbs. The three sentences "Bob runs", "Bob is old", and "Bob is a fireman", for instance, would all have the same form in Lojban: la bob. bajra, la bob. tolcitno, and la bob. fagdirpre. There are several different copulas: me turns whatever follows the word me into a verb that means to be what it follows. For example, me la bob. means to be Bob. Another copula is du, which is a verb that means all its arguments are the same thing (equal).^[11]

The E-Prime language, based on English, simply avoids the issue by not having a generic copula. It requires instead a specific form such as "remains", "becomes", "lies", or "equals".

Esperanto uses the copula much as English. The infinitive is esti, and the whole conjugation is regular (as with all Esperanto verbs). In addition, adjectival roots can be turned into stative verbs: La ĉielo bluas. "The sky is blue."

Likewise, Ido has a copula that works as English "to be". Its infinitive is esar, and, as is the case in Esperanto, all of its forms are regular: The simple present is esas for all persons; the simple past is esis, the simple future is esos, and the imperative is esez, among a few more forms. However, Ido also has an alternative irregular form for the simple present ("es"), which some Idists frown upon. The possibility to turn adjectives and even nouns into verbs also exist, although this is mostly done by means of an affix, on top of the verbal endings. The affix is "-es-". So, "The sky is blue." can be said as "La cielo bluesas". As can be seen, the suffix "-es-" plus the verbal desinence "-as" are simply the verb "to be" annexed to the adjectival or nominal root.

Interlingua speakers use copulas with the same freedom as speakers of Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages. In addition to combinations with esser ('to be'), expressions such as cader prede ('to fall prey') are common. Esser is stated, rather than omitted as in Russian.

Existential usage[link]

The existential usage of "to be" is distinct from and yet, in some languages, intimately related to its copulative usage. In language as opposed to formal logic, existence is a predicate rather than a quantifier, and the passage from copulative to existential usage can be subtle. In modern linguistics, one commonly speaks of existential constructions - prototypically involving an expletive like there - rather than existential use of the verb itself. So, for example in English, a sentence like "there is a problem" would be considered an instance of existential construction. Relying on unified theory of copular sentences, it has been proposed that there-sentences are subtypes of inverse copular sentences (see Moro 1997 and "existential sentences and expletive there" in Everaert et al. 2006 for a detailed discussion of this issue and a historical survey of the major proposals).

For example:

• Arabic: يمكنه أن يبدو أن يكون ذكياً – Yumkinuhu ʼan yabdu ʼan yakūna ḏakiyyan. — He can appear (to be) smart.
• Japanese: 吾輩は猫である。名前はまだない。 Wagahai wa neko de aru. Namae wa mada nai – I am a cat. As yet, I have no name. — Natsume Sōseki
• English: To be or not to be, that is the question. — William Shakespeare
• English: [Why climb Mount Everest?] Because it is there. — George Mallory
• Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה Ehyeh asher ehyeh. – I am that I am. — Exodus 3:14.
• Russian: Страна, которую ищут дети, есть. – Strana, kotoruju iščut deti, jest'. – The country, which children are looking for, exists. — Mikhail Prishvin
• French: Je pense, donc je suis. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes
• Latin: Cogito ergo sum. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes
• Hungarian: Gondolkodom, tehát vagyok. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes
• Turkish: Düşünüyorum, öyleyse varım. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes
• Finnish: Ajattelen, siis olen. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes
• Filipino/Tagalog: Ang kahalagahan ng pagiging seryoso. – The importance of being Earnest. — Oscar Wilde

Other languages prefer to keep the existential usage entirely separate from the copula. Swedish, for example, reserves vara (to be) for the copula, keeping bli (to become) and finnas (to exist, lit. to be found) for becoming and existing, respectively.

• Swedish: Vem vill bli miljonär? – Who wants to be a millionaire?. (Literally "Who wants to become millionaire?") — Bengt Magnusson
• Swedish: Varför bestiga Mt. Everest? Därför att det finns där. – Why climb Mt. Everest? Because it is there. (Literally "Why climb Mt. Everest? Because it is found there") — George Mallory

In Spanish, ser (to be) is the copula, and estar (to be, to remain) and existir (to exist) are for being in a place and existing, respectively.

• Spanish: Pienso, luego existo. – I think; therefore, I am. — Descartes

In ontology, philosophical discussions of the word "be" and its conjugations takes place over the meaning of the word is, the third person singular form of 'be', and whether the other senses can be reduced to one sense. For example, it is sometimes suggested that the "is" of existence is reducible to the "is" of property attribution or class membership; to be, Aristotle held, is to be something. Of course, the gerund form of "be", being, is its own (vexed) topic: see being and existence.

Unified theory of copular sentences[link]

Along with canonical copular constructions wherein the canonical order of predication is displayed - that is, the subject precedes the predicate - as in "a picture of the wall is the cause of the riot," there can also be a symmetric type wherein the order of the two noun phrases is mirrored as in "the cause of the riot is a picture of the wall" (cf. Everaert et al. 2006). Although these two sentences are superficially very similar, it can be shown that they embody very different properties. So, for example, it is possible to form a sentence like "which riot do you think that a picture of the wall is the cause of" but not "*which wall do you think that the cause of the riot was a picture of". The distinction between these two types of sentences, in the technical sense referred to as "canonical" vs. inverse copular sentences, respectively - and the unified theory of copular sentences associated to it - has been proven to be valid across-languages and has led to some refinement of the theory of clause structure. In particular, it challenges one of the major dogmas of the theory of clause structure, i.e., that the two basic constituents of a sentence Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase are associated to the logical/grammatical functions of subject and predicate (cf. phrase structure rules and sentence (linguistics)).

This perspective has been argued against on empirical grounds, since the Noun Phrase that cooccurs with the Verb Phrase in a copular sentence can be the predicate and the subject be contained in the Verb Phrase. It has been suggested that inverse copular sentences appear to play a sharp role in setting the pro-drop parameter. In Italian, for example, in sentences of the type Noun Phrase verb Noun Phrase, the verb, in general, agrees with the Noun Phrase on the left with one exception: inverse copular sentences. One can construe minimal pairs like the cause of the riot is/*are these pictures of the wall vs. la causa della rivolta sono/*è queste foto del muro: The two sentences are one the gloss of the other with only one difference: The copula is singular in Italian and plural in English. If one does not want to give up the idea that agreement is on the left, then the only option is to assume that pro occurs between the copula and the Noun Phrase on the left. That pro can occur as a predicate must be in fact independently assumed to assign a proper structure to sentences like sono io (am I: "it's me"), which can by no means be considered a transformation of *io sono, which has no meaning.

See also[link]

• Indo-European copula
• List of English copulas
• Nominal sentence
• Predicate (grammar)
• Stative verb
• Verb

Notes[link]

References[link]

Marina and the Diamonds
Marina and the Diamonds performing in Edinburgh on 2 November 2010
Background information
Birth name	Marina Lambrini Diamandis
Born	(1985-10-10) 10 October 1985 (age 26) Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales
Genres	indie pop, pop, New Wave, electropop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician poet,
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard, piano, glockenspiel, casio VL-tone, organ
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Neon Gold, 679, Chop Shop
Website	marinaandthediamonds.com

Marina Lambrini Diamandis^[1] (Greek: Μαρίνα-Λαμπρινή Διαμάντη, pronounced [ðʝaˈmadi];^[2] born 10 October 1985), better known by her stage name Marina and the Diamonds (sometimes stylised as Marina & the Diamonds), is a Welsh singer-songwriter.^[3][4] She rose to fame after reaching number two on the BBC Sound of 2010 poll list, coming second to Ellie Goulding. After releasing one private EP, Diamandis released her second extended play, The Crown Jewels EP, with help from Neon Gold Records, in 2009.^[5] Now signed to 679 Recordings, she released her debut full length studio album, The Family Jewels, followed by her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, in 2010. In 2011, Diamandis announced that she was working on her second album, Electra Heart, which was released in April 2012 and went to #1 in the UK and Ireland.

Her stage name, "Marina and the Diamonds", consists of Diamandis' first name and the translation of her surname which means "Diamonds" in Greek. Although "The Diamonds" is often mistakenly believed to refer to her backing band,^[6] it in fact refers to Diamandis' fans: she explains this on her Myspace page by saying "I'm Marina. You are the diamonds."^[7]

Diamandis' musical style ranges from keyboard-based ballads to more up-tempo New Wave-style songs with full band backing.^[4] She has cited a wide-range of influences such as Daniel Johnston, Blondie, The Distillers, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Kate Bush, Britney Spears, Yann Tiersen, Elliott Smith, Dolly Parton and Madonna.^[8][9]

Background[link]

Diamandis was born in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. Her father is Greek and her mother is Welsh,^[10] and brought up in the village of Pandy with her parents and her older sister.^[11] She attended Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, of which she said "I sort of found my talent there... I was the one who always skived off choir, but I had an incredible music teacher who managed to convince me I could do anything."^[12] When her parents separated, Diamandis moved to Greece when she was sixteen years old to live with her father but returned to Wales two years later.^[11]

Diamandis moved to London at the age of eighteen where she attended dance school for only two months.^[6] Following this, in 2005 she took a one year singing course at Tech Music Schools.^{[citation needed]} Diamandis enrolled in a music degree at the University of East London, transferring in her second year of studies to Middlesex University, but later dropped out.^[13] She went for many auditions including the West End musical, The Lion King.^[14] Diamandis admitted that she auditioned for a reggae boy band, held by Virgin Records, in 2005 to try to make it into the music business. She said she was "delusional with drive" and ultimately decided to dress up in male attire to try to amuse the record label to sign her, but she was unsuccessful. However, she was called back by the record label a week later.^[15][16]

Diamandis has a synaesthetic condition that involves seeing musical notes and days of the week in different colours.^[17]

Musical career[link]

2005–2008: Early career[link]

Diamandis live at the NME Radar Tour

In 2005, Diamandis created the name "Marina and the Diamonds".^[18] When describing the origin of the name, she said:

I never envisaged a character, pop project, band or solo artist. I saw a simple group made up of many people who had the same hearts. A space for people with similar ideals who could not fit in to life's pre-made mould. I was terribly awkward for a long time! I really craved to be part of one thing because I never felt too connected to anybody and now I feel I have that all around me.^[18]

Early demos of Marina and the Diamonds' songs were self composed and produced on the Apple software application Garageband.^[14] Through Gumtree she found someone to produce a few tracks, for which she paid £500.^[19] These ended up on her debut extended play Mermaid Vs. Sailor EP which was released on 23 November 2007. The record was created on hand-made CD-Rs by Diamandis and sold through her MySpace page. An estimated seventy copies were sold overall.^[20]

In January 2008, Diamandis was first discovered by music scouter Derek Davies of Neon Gold Records. Davies booked Diamandis to open for Belgian-Australian singer Gotye later that year where Warner Music Group first saw her and ended up signing her in October 2008 to 679 Recordings.^[19]

Marina and the Diamonds performing at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York.

Diamandis' debut single was a double a-side consisting of "Obsessions" and "Mowgli's Road" which was issued on Neon Gold Records in the United States on 19 November 2008, followed by her second extended play The Crown Jewels EP on 1 June 2009 featuring her second single "I Am Not a Robot".^[21] Her first major label single, a re-recording of "Mowgli's Road", was released on 13 November 2009 under 679 Recordings in the UK and through Atlantic Records in the USA. On 7 December 2009 she was listed on the longlist for the BBC Sound of 2010 poll,^[22] and on 7 January 2010 it was announced that she had taken second place.^[23]

[edit] 2009–2010: The Family Jewels

Marina and the Diamonds' debut album, The Family Jewels, was released in February 2010. It peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart and was certified silver in the United Kingdom days before its release.^[24] A re-release of "Mowgli's Road" was released as the album's lead single in November 2009.^[25] However, the song "Hollywood" was released as the first major single from the album in February 2010.^[26] A re-release of "I Am Not a Robot" in April 2010 became the album's third single; Diamandis said she decided to re-release the song because "people seem to empathize and relate with the song, regardless of gender or age."^[27] "Oh No!" became the album's fourth single in August 2010,^[28] and "Shampain" became the fifth single in October 2010.^[29] She embarked on her first headlining tour on 14 February 2010, consisting of seventy dates around the United Kingdom, Ireland, mainland Europe, the United States and Canada.^[30]

Also during 2010, Diamandis collaborated with producer Benny Blanco and guitarist Dave Sitek in Los Angeles on new material which she described as "a really great opportunity for me as a songwriter. [We are] such a weird threesome—a combination of super pop and really indie".^[6]

In March 2010, Atlantic Records signed Marina and the Diamonds to Chop Shop Records in the United States.^[31][32] Before the album's American release in May 2010,^[33] Diamandis released her third extended play, The American Jewels EP, digitally and exclusively for the United States in March 2010.^[31][32] Diamandis made her North American debut on 14 March 2010 through a series of performances.^[34]

Marina and the Diamonds was nominated for Critics' Choice at the 2010 BRIT Awards^[35] and came fifth in SHREDnews' "Ten Artists To Watch in 2010" list in March 2010.^[36] She also won the award for Best UK & Ireland Act at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards.^[37]

[edit] 2011–present: Electra Heart

In a January 2011 interview, Diamandis announced that her second album would mainly be about female sexuality and feminism.^{[citation needed]} The same month, Diamandis was announced as a support act for the U.S. leg of Katy Perry's California Dreams Tour.^[38] Three early demos were leaked in early 2011, called "Sex, Yeah", "Living Dead" and "Jealousy", each showing a more pop sound.^[39] Diamandis recorded material with producers Cirkut, Guy Sigsworth, Labrinth, Greg Kurstin, Diplo, Dr. Luke, Stargate and Liam Howe.

In August 2011, Diamandis uploaded a video to her YouTube page titled "Part 1: Fear and Loathing". In an interview with Popjustice, she explained the concept of the album, titled Electra Heart after a character of her creation; she said the guise "epitomises and embodies the lies, illusions and death of American ideologies involved in the corruption of self [...] Electra Heart is the antithesis of everything that I stand for. And the point of introducing her and building a whole concept around her is that she stands for the corrupt side of American ideology, and basically that’s the corruption of yourself. My worst fear—that’s anyone’s worst fear—is losing myself and becoming a vacuous person. And that happens a lot when you’re very ambitious."^[40] The campaign's first single, "Radioactive" produced by Stargate, was released in October 2011 (reaching number twenty-five in the UK),^[41] followed by a demo of the song "Starring Role" in November^[42] and a video titled ♡ PART 3: "THE ARCHETYPES" ♡ in December.^[43] A track titled "Homewrecker" was issued as a free download to her mailing list subscribers.^[44]

Electra Heart was released in April 2012,^[45] preceded by the single "Primadonna" produced by Dr Luke, Diplo and Cirkut.^[46][47] "Primadonna" debuted at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Diamandis' highest peaking single to date. "Power and Control" has been announced officially as the next single from the album.^[48]

Artistry[link]

Music style and influences[link]

Marina and the Diamonds performing on The Gem Tour in Birmingham, UK.

Marina and the Diamonds has been influenced by a wide-range of musicians from PJ Harvey to Britney Spears.^[8] Diamandis has also noted Daniel Johnston as one of her major influences saying:

He really opened me up to a whole new world of music and a whole new perception of what an artist is. For me, he really encouraged me because if you think of someone who has been spoon-fed pop, up until twenty-one years old, and you hear someone like Daniel Johnston you're like "God, this is terrible, but I love it." It sounds like a child has made it, like, the production is so all over the place. He's obviously got something very captivating here yet he doesn't fit the normal mould and people still love him. I thought "if he can do it then [so can I]," that's when I started to produce things myself and play live, even though I wasn't even great on the piano. It's all about emotion and if you have heart, people connect to that.^[49]

Diamandis calls herself a "DIY musician"^[49] and describes her sound as an alternative to mainstream pop music.^[8] In an interview with ClashMusic Diamandis said that she does not come from a musical background and explained "I probably have a bit of a different sound because I don’t really know what I’m doing".^[50] Lyrically, she says her music analyzes people and that if she wasn't a musician, she would be a psychologist.^[51]

Critics usually catalogue Marina and the Diamonds as a New Wave pop artist. In an interview with The Guardian she said, "I suppose I'm an indie artist with pop goals".^[9] Although Diamandis has asserted that she never tries to sound like any other artist or copy a genre of music, she has been compared to a variety of artists such as Kate Bush^[50] and most commonly Florence and the Machine.^[52] PopMatters commented on her vocal delivery and attitude saying it "has a tendency to overshadow the music, which is often melodically inventive, but we are rarely given the chance to realise this."^[53] The Guardian's Paul Lester wrote that "her songs are hard to fathom. They veer between simple keyboards-based ballads and more upbeat and catchy, quirky new wave-inflected numbers enhanced by percussion, guitar and drums."^[4]

Public image[link]

As well as her music, Marina and the Diamonds is also notable for her unique attire.^[54] When asked in an interview to describe her fashion style in three words, Diamandis said "vintage, cheerleader and cartoon".^[55] You can see an element of this style in the video for 'Oh No!' which was released in June 2010. She has praised model/DJ Leigh Lezark's fashion style and called Gwen Stefani her definitive style icon describing her image as "cartoonized but in a very fresh way".^[55] Diamandis has mentioned that she sometimes makes her own outfits with clothes she buys from charity shops.^[56] She also collects vintage cheer jackets.^[55] She has often been seen wearing clothes by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac,^[57] Laura Mackness,^[58] Beyond Retro,^[59] Motel Rocks,^[60] Jervoise Jackets^[61] amongst others. Diamandis has admitted that she would "like to do something in fashion, not designing, not one of those skanky celebrity lines, but being involved behind the scenes".^[11]

As part of Selfridges' "Sound of Music", Diamandis designed her own window display for the London Oxford Street branch in May 2010.^[62] She also appeared as a "live mannequin" for the display.^[63] Diamandis was featured on Vogue UK's official website throughout November 2010 for a popular sartorial section called "Today I'm Wearing", where she blogged her daily style choices for the fashion website.^[64] In December 2010, Diamandis announced on her Twitter that she would be the new face of the Max Factor make-up range Max Colour Effects.

Discography[link]

• 2010: The Family Jewels
• 2012: Electra Heart

Filmography[link]

• 2013: Homewrecker (Set to be released in Summer 2013)

Touring[link]

Marina and the Diamonds at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ

In 2009, Marina and the Diamonds played at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Swindon early in May 2009,^[3] Glastonbury Festival in June 2009,^[65] and the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2009.^[66]

In promotion for her album and "Hollywood", Diamandis performed at Brand New: 10 for 10 at London's Dingwalls,^[67] had an eleven minute 4Music special - 4Play: Marina and the Diamonds - on Channel 4,^[68] performed at T4's Outside-In Festival,^[69] New to Q Sessions^[70] in January 2010, was a musical guest on GMTV, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The Review Show in February 2010^[71] and Later... with Jools Holland and T4's Frock Me! in April 2010. She performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010 and Glastonbury Festival 2010 in June 2010 and is planned to appear at other music festivals across the United Kingdom, mainland Europe and North America.

Diamandis had already sold out the first leg of her first headlining tour, The Family Jewels Tour before the release of her debut album. Her entire tour currently consists of seventy dates across six legs around the United Kingdom, North America, Ireland and mainland Europe.^[30][72][73] Diamandis was accompanied by support acts Clock Opera and Alan Pownall for the first leg of her tour and Spark on The Gem Tour.^[74]

Headlining

• The Family Jewels Tour (2010 - 2011)
• Lonely Hearts Club Tour (2012)

Supporting

• California Dreams Tour (2011)
• Mylo Xyloto Tour (2011 - 2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marina and the Diamonds

• Official website
• Marina and the Diamonds on BBC Wales
• Today I'm Wearing at Vogue UK

Martyn Ashton

Animal Bike Tour, Aberystwyth, June 2007
Personal information
Full name	Martyn Ashton
Born	(1974-02-12) 12 February 1974 (age 38)
Team information
Discipline	MTB
Role	Rider
Rider type	Trials
Professional team(s)
1997 2005 2008–	Volvo - Cannondale Animal MBUK Team Ashton Diamondback
Infobox last updated on 12 June 2008

Martyn Ashton (born 2 December 1974)^[1] is a mountain bike trials rider and team manager. He has been riding professional trials since 1993^[2] and is often described as a mountain biking legend.^[3][4] He has been credited with turning it from a niche form of riding into the sport it is today.^[5]

Biography[link]

Ashton started out as a motorcycle trials rider, and began riding mountain bike trials later on.^[5] He has been the front man for The Bike Tour since 2002, and has been the British Biketrial Champion four times and has been the World Expert Biketrial Champion. Ashton is the High Jump World Record Holder. In 2008, Ashton entered the Mountain Biking UK 'Hall of Fame'.^[2]

Ashton not only rides trials, he has also designed the exhibition stages^[6] and has been designing products for his own Ashton Bikes range since 2002.^[3] He has appeared in TV shows, magazine covers and MTB videos, and also has his own column Hop Idol in the MBUK magazine.^[3] Ashton lives in Port Talbot, Wales.

Ashton broke his back in 2003 when he compressed a vertebra and fractured it during a fall, having misjudged a landing, but he soon returned to riding.^[7]

Ashton established Team Ashton Diamondback in order to provide support for young riders. Although they are top level riders nationally and capable of achieving results internationally, Ashton does not believe competition results are the be all and end all, and the team concentrate just as much on gaining positive attention in the media as well as competition. A range of Team Ashton bikes were developed during 2008, and released in October 2008 as part of the 2009 Diamondback range."About Team Ashton". Ashton Bikes. http://www.ashtonbikes.com/team-ashton-diamondback/. </ref>

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website