[thaumasiotes]

> Chinese similarly lacks a 'to be' copula

What? No it doesn't. 是 is the Chinese copula.

It isn't permitted in a lot of contexts where it would be used in English, but it's still the copula. Here are the examples of copula use that wikipedia gives which require 是 in Chinese:

    Mary and John are my friends.
    The Morning Star is the Evening Star.
    She was a nurse.
    Dogs are carnivorous mammals.
    I am your boss.

I'd be very surprised to see a Chinese person come out with 水好 for "water is good".

[camdez]

Good point. It exists but isn't necessary for applying adjectives to nouns. Mea culpa.

Agreed RE "水好" being unnatural, but it's hardly incorrect.