The Tagalog copula

I argue that Tagalog, contrary to appearances, has a copula, which is often null. In particular, the copula is null when it would be in the imperfective form; in other forms, it is overt, surfacing as the verb maging. I show that Tagalog clauses may lack overt aspect morphology, in which case stative predicates receive the interpretations they would have had if they bore imperfective aspect; in fact, the null copula is possible just in those contexts in which aspect may be omitted. I offer evidence from extraction, however, that the copula is syntactically present even when it is unpronounced; it is made overt just when needed to support overt aspectual morphology.