Formal variation in incorporation: A typological study and a unified approach

Abstract

This study investigates the formal variation in elements involved in incorporation structures. Although it has traditionally been assumed that only stems can be incorporated, several languages also show incorporation of formally more complex elements. Most theoretical approaches to incorporation are, however, limited to incorporated stems and the few that do include more complex forms consider the incorporation of simple and complex elements separate processes. The present study, by contrast, recognizes the many shared characteristics between incorporation structures with simple and complex elements and adopts the approach to incorporation advocated in Functional Discourse Grammar, which proposes a unified account of incorporated simple stems, derived stems, inflected words, phrases and clauses. In addition, the study hypothesizes that these forms constitute an implicational hierarchy, i. e., that more complex incorporated elements only occur in languages that also allow the incorporation of all simpler forms. Results from a typological study of incorporated elements in a variety sample of 30 incorporating languages show that all forms except clauses are indeed found incorporated and that the hypothesized implicational pattern holds. The study thus demonstrates that the incorporation of simple and complex elements is interrelated, supporting a unified treatment of incorporated elements of different degrees of complexity.