A syntax for semantic incorporation: generating low-scope indefinite objects in Inuktitut

• Published in: Glossa: a journal of general linguistics
• Main Authors: Phil Branigan, Douglas Wharram
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Open Library of Humanities 2019
• Subjects: Inuktitut; morphosyntax; incorporation; antipassive; specificity; labeling; Case; person features; Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar; P101-410; inuktitut
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.834; https://doaj.org/article/2190a540e96a4e9488c1e48ca08ea684

The range of scope readings for Inuktitut nominal expressions appears superficially to depend on the verbal morpho-syntax, with noun incorporation and antipassive inflection both playing a role. A new model is presented in which the syntactic role played by agreement features in Case theory is unified with the absence of a choice functional D in the semantic interpretation. For both, a phase-level D-deletion operation ensures the correct results. The model is shown to account for the scopal properties of nominals in a range of contexts larger than the literature typically considers, including incorporation of predicational, locational, and locative nouns, and non-modalis-marked arguments of non-antipassive verbs.