Analytic Noun Incorporation in Chuj and K'ichee' Mayan

Lachlan Duncan

Abstract

In this paper, the noun incorporation (NI) construction in Chuj and K'ichee' Mayan is examined. Formal explanations are proposed using the non-projecting semantic argument (NPSA) within the Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) architecture. Derivational morphology indicates that NI is an analytical construct, and by inference, is post-lexically formed. Traditional NI semantic analyses, although productive, fall short of a full accounting. Consequently I show that the incorporated noun (Incorporate) represents a hybrid category of grammatical function (GF) that displays a mix of properties acquired from prototypical subcategorized GFs and non-subcategorized Adjuncts.

Proceedings of LFG07; CSLI Publications On-line