The syntactic status of noun incorporation in the tenetehára language (Tupi-Guarani family)

Abstract

This paper aims at proposing a theoretical analysis that explains the noun incorporation process in the Tenetehára language (Tupi-Guarani). Thus, we attempt to answer the question: based on the assumptions of the Minimalist Program (cf. Chomsky, 1993, 1995), what is the formal feature responsible for motivating noun incorporation in Tenetehára? We consider two types of noun incorporation in the language under analysis, namely: (i) transitive predicates which become formally intransitive verbs as the internal argument is incorporated; and (ii) in the instances of possessive structures in internal argument positions of intransitive and transitive verbs, verbal valence is preserved, since only the possessee noun is incorporated. As for the syntax of noun incorporations, based on Baker (1988), we lay the foundation for further investigation about this morphosyntactic phenomenon within a minimalist approach (cf. Chomsky 1993, 1995). In summary, we propose that, in the Tenetehára language, the driving force responsible for the incorporation of the noun into the head of a vP is the [+non-individuated] formal feature.