Two Kinds of Structural Noun Incorporation

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel solution to the problem of noun incorporation constructions in which both an incorporated noun and a nominal double, hyponymous object, or stranded modifier are present. Such doubling constructions have been difficult to reconcile with a syntactic approach to noun incorporation. I propose that doubling constructions arise from an underlying structure in which the incorporated nominal and the double are merged as a constituent. In doing so, I argue against the parameterized φ-deletion analysis proposed in Baker et al. (2005), pointing out some shortcomings of their analysis. This proposal also ties together doubling and stranding into a unified phenomenon, a result I show is supported by cross-linguistic evidence. I also tie doubling/stranding in with the availability of NI with unaccusatives and show how this also falls out from the current proposal. Thus, this proposal makes a strong testable prediction on the distribution of the properties of NI found in natural language.

Mediating functions and the semantics of noun incorporation

“…This paper thus offers semantic evidence toward the notion that there are multiple ways to build noun incorporation structures (Johns 2007;Massam 2009;Baker 2009;Barrie 2015). It is likely that there are multiple ways to build pseudo-incorporation structures as well (Farkas and de Swart 2003;Dayal 2011Dayal , 2015.…”