C. The Copula

§38. The copula, ni, is employed as a link between subject and predicate. It is also, although rarely, used with the significance of the English auxiliary ‘to be able’. 1 Morphologically, it is an invariable form, i. e., no affixes can be appended to it; but it undergoes considerable phonetic change. These phonetic changes may be summarized as follows: (1) It may be reduced to syllabic η (η), which in turn may become n or m, according to the initial consonant of the following word. 2 (2) It combines with the initial i of the personal pronouns and demonstratives that have initial i, giving the forms : 3