Incorporation or Quasi‐Incorporation? A Constructionist Account in Persian

Abstract

AbstractNoun incorporation is generally defined as a word formation process in which a noun, typically the direct object, is incorporated into the verb to form a compound verb. The present study, adopting a Construction Morphology perspective, examines the characteristics of the so‐called incorporative structure in Persian, to shed light on the process and to see as what kind of structure it can actually be regarded. Construction Morphology is a lexeme‐based theory taking the words as the starting point of morphological analysis. It makes use of the notion of “construction”, which is defined as a pairing of form and meaning, to describe the properties of complex words. Examining the characteristics of the incorporative structures in Persian makes it clear that these NV sequences form compounds with a specific constructional meaning that often denotes a nameworthy and conventional activity. The qualities examined suggest that this process in Persian and the resulting structure can best be analysed as a case of quasi‐incorporation, schematised as [N0 V0]V0, rather than a purely morphological incorporation.