Additional facts about noun incorporation (in Inuktitut)

Abstract

This article examines a range of data concerning noun incorporation in Inuktitut. A number of facts are known in the linguistic literature of Inuit languages but are often not addressed in noun incorporation analyses. Possessor stranding is not permitted in noun incorporation, with the exception of a subclass of incorporating verbs which describe location and direction. Names are readily incorporated, a fact which poses a problem for analyses claiming that incorporated nominals are predicates. New empirical evidence about noun incorporation in Inuktitut is also introduced. This includes the fact that noun incorporation verbs can sometimes be optionally transitive, as well as the fact that passive morphemes may be added to the incorporated noun plus verb sequences. Throughout the paper it is shown that all the facts are accounted for by a Root Movement analysis. The nominal is incorporated not because it is a nominal but because it is a root and there is no verbal root element in this construction. Another concern discussed is the translation of elements within complex words, using English glosses. The paper concludes that more empirical research is required on languages which display noun incorporation.