Predication markers in Basque

In this paper I give a new account of the nature and distribution of the suffix -a(k) that occurs with individual-level predicate nouns and adjectives in Basque. I first critically go through previous analyses that take this affix – which is homophonous of the Basque definite article – to be either number agreement or a non-referential determiner, and then argue that the affix -a(k) on nominal predicates with a predicative reading is a pronominal-like predication marker. This proposal does not encounter the problems other proposals have to face, and helps us explain why this suffix only combines with individual-level nominal predicates, and is absent in stage-level predicates.