Adjectives and Copulas in Sranan Tongo

Some linguists regard predicate adjectives in Sranan and other creole languages as stative verbs, one argument being the absence of a copula before such adjectives. An analysis by Seuren, on the other hand, treats predicate adjectives as true adjectives in Sranan: an underlying copula fails to surface before them. This paper argues for an analysis which treats Sranan predicate adjectives as a type of stative verb, and accounts for the appearance of the copula in a relatively small number of cases by positing the existence of "extent phrases" in Sranan. These may modify a verb or copula; except under certain conditions, they contain a quantifier and an adjective. This accounts not only for the appearance of copulas with predicate adjectives, but also for the "repetition" of the adjective as in o bradi a liba bradi? (how broad the river broad) 'How broad is the river?'