Knowledge base · Part XI — Valency, Voice, and Noun Incorporation · this topic as a network
88. Object (Patient) Noun Incorporation
What characterizes object (patient) noun incorporation in Hokkaido Ainu, and how does it interact with the antipassive and valency prefixes?
Ainu features noun incorporation. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.1) Compound verbs in Ainu generally consist of 'prefix + transitive verb', where the prefix is restricted to a noun standing in an objective relation to the transitive verb. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class III compound verbs, the personal affix appears between the incorporated noun and the transitive verb because of an ongoing perception that the verbal stem itself belongs to Class I. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) When the fusion of a compound verb becomes fully established, the compound verb shifts back to Class I and the personal affix attaches to the front of the entire compound. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In addition to the finite conjugated forms, the indefinite form (infinitive/verbal noun) of the Class III verb paroiki is par-chi-oiki, which conjugates periphrastically with an auxiliary verb. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class III Type i compound verbs such as par-oiki, the first and second person object forms typically use the abstract form of the noun (e.g. par), though using the possessed form (e.g. paro) is not an error. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Class III Type i compound verbs, third person object forms require the incorporated noun to take its possessed concrete form (such as paro) because there is no personal affix to indicate the third person. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Class III Type ii compound verbs include ka(shi)-opash 'to rescue', ka(shi)-oshike 'to bring and give something', ka(shi)-huye 'to nurse', ka(shi)-eshina 'to shelter/protect', and ka(shi)-kik 'to strike with the palm to exorcise demons'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Ainu can relatively freely incorporate nouns functioning as objects, subjects, or adverbs into a verb to form compound verbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 125) Noun incorporation expressions in Ainu are used more often in verse than in everyday conversation or prose tales, and their frequency in everyday conversation is not very high. (Nakagawa 2024: 480) Incorporating two nouns into a single verb, as in Chukchi, is rare in Ainu. (Nakagawa 2024: 480) When incorporation of a noun like sampe or ram is combined with polysynthetic affixation, very long verbs such as a=e-yay-sampe-si-turi-re and a=e-yay-ko-si-ram-suy-pa-re can be formed. (Nakagawa 2024: 481) The connected verb kaopas is composed of the locational noun ka 'upon' and the verb opas 'run to (a place)', together meaning 'to rush to (someone's aid)'. (Nakagawa 2024: 495) When a connected verb is realized as two words, both the noun and the verb may take personal affixes (e.g. e=ka a=opas), or the verb alone takes the transitive subject personal affix with the noun placed outside it (e.g. kasi ci=opas). (Nakagawa 2024: 496) Connected verbs differ from regular object incorporation in four respects: (1) candidate object nouns are restricted, (2) the verb remains transitive even after incorporation, (3) the separated noun takes an objective rather than subjective personal affix, and (4) the overall meaning is non-compositional. (Nakagawa 2024: 496) The nouns that can serve as the nominal element of a connected verb are basically restricted to locational nouns or common nouns denoting body parts. (Nakagawa 2024: 496) When a serial verb is formed as a single word, its first element appears in the concept form (if a common noun) or basic form (if a locative noun). (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 502) Sato (2001) argues that at least one reason for the existence of 'Class 3 verbs' (serial verbs) is a morphological constraint in Ainu where transitive verbs reject the incorporation of possessed forms (or person-marked forms) of nouns, particularly locative nouns, thereby breaking word unity. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 502) Among noun incorporations in Ainu, the incorporation of intransitive subjects and objects is common, whereas the incorporation of transitive subjects or adverbial modifiers is quite restricted. (Satō 2008: 225) Separable verbs appear as a single word when they take a derivational prefix (e.g. ukesanpa 'chase each other' with u-, ikaopas 'go/come to rescue people' with i-). (Satō 2008: 230) Separable verbs generally have the structure 'locational noun + transitive verb', though a body-part noun may also be used in place of a locational noun. (Satō 2008: 231) Examples of intransitive subject incorporation in Ainu are very few in comparison to those of object incorporation. (Satō 2022: 16.1) A subtype of object noun incorporation exists in which a possessor-requiring incorporated noun takes a derivational possessor prefix such as yay- 'self' or i- 'someone, something' (e.g., i-par-oyki 'support someone', yay-par-oyki 'support oneself'). (Satō 2022: 16.4) Possessor-requiring object noun incorporation is impossible when the possessor of the incorporated noun is expressed by an inflectional person marker. (Satō 2022: 16.4) In Ainu noun incorporation, the direct object is the most accessible grammatical relation, while the transitive subject is the least accessible. (Satō 2022: 16.6) Ainu verbs incorporate not only nouns but also adverbs as well as relational functions that can alternatively be expressed by postpositional particles or applicative affixes. (Shibatani 1990: 16) Noun incorporation phenomena are primarily a property of Classical Ainu rather than the colloquial language, which favors more analytic expressions. (Shibatani 1990: 60) What is incorporated into a verb is the basic (root) form of a noun, adverb, or verb. (Shibatani 1990) The possessed forms of nouns are never incorporated. (Shibatani 1990) While no more than one noun can be incorporated into a verb at a time, a noun and an adverb can be incorporated into one verb base simultaneously. (Shibatani 1990)
Object incorporation in the valency system
When a transitive verb incorporates a noun as its object, how are the subject and the incorporated object expressed in the single verb word?
Object noun incorporation reduces the valency of a transitive verb by one, converting it into an intransitive verb. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.4, Nakagawa 2024: 481, 486, Refsing 1986) Noun incorporation in Ainu triggers intransitivization of the verbal base. (reported in Satō 2022: 16.1) When noun incorporation applies to the patient object and applicative formation applies to an oblique argument, the incorporated noun occurs inside the applicative prefix. (Shibatani 1990: 68) Noun incorporation in the verb template can occur right before the base (slot 0) and before each applicative slot (slots I and III). (Bugaeva 2012: 480–481) O-incorporation is very common with applicative verbs, applying to base transitive objects as well as applicative objects of base bivalent and trivalent transitives. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) In a trivalent causative verb, either the causee or the original object can be incorporated. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) In trivalent causative-applicatives, both objects can be incorporated, accompanied by slight lexicalization. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) Incorporated causee objects are never found in indirect causatives, nor are any incorporated applicative objects with the recipient or beneficiary role. (Bugaeva 2012: 492–493) With base bivalent transitives, O-incorporation is most common with verbs of Pursuit/Affected Subject/Perception/Cognition and Interaction. (Bugaeva 2012: 492–493) Causative verbs that incorporate a causee object are intransitive verbs. (Bugaeva 2014) When objects are not contextually salient in transitive causatives, either the causee, the original object, or both can be incorporated into the verb. (Bugaeva 2014) Direct causatives formed with -V and -ke cannot undergo noun incorporation or antipassivization. (Bugaeva 2014) In derived applicative verbs with object incorporation, there is a tendency for the applicative prefix to be adjacent to the verbal root and for the incorporated applicative object to immediately precede it. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.4) In compound expressions of the 'noun + verb' pattern where the preceding noun is an object and the following element is a Class I transitive verb, the noun takes either the abstract or concrete form. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) In Ainu, an expression consisting of two words such as a noun and a verb (e.g. aynu ku=hunara 'I look for a person') can be formed into a single word by incorporating the noun inside the verb (e.g. k=aynuhunara 'I do person-seeking'). (Nakagawa 2024: 480) In Ainu, object nouns can be incorporated relatively easily into transitive verbs. (Nakagawa 2024: 486) Objects can be incorporated not only directly into verb roots but also into stems derived with applicative prefixes, allowing nouns with various semantic relations to be incorporated as objects. (Nakagawa 2024: 486) There are cases where a compound noun (such as noun + noun or verb + noun) is incorporated into a verb as a single unit. (Nakagawa 2024: 487) In Ainu, cases of incorporating two objects into a verb are rare, but not impossible. (Nakagawa 2024: 488) In examples of two-object incorporation, one of the nouns is a type-2 locational noun expressing location, suggesting a possible semantic restriction to patient and location. (proposed in Nakagawa 2024: 488) In compound verbs (serial verbs), when a transitive verb incorporates an object noun (such as askeuk from aske 'hand' and uk 'take'), it remains transitive and requires a further object. (Nakagawa 2024: 497) The object of a compound verb can itself be further incorporated along with the compound verb into a single word, making the entire complex predicate intransitive. (Nakagawa 2024: 497) In split two-word serial verb constructions, common noun objects take objective personal affixes in their concept form rather than taking subjective affixes in their affiliative form. (Nakagawa 2024: 498) In serial verbs, common nouns are treated as having arity 0 like Class 1 locative nouns, which explains why incorporating them does not reduce the arity of the transitive verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 498) Serial verbs have non-compositional semantics such that the sum of the meanings of the object noun and the verb does not equal the meaning of the whole verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 498) Some serial verbs contain nominal or verbal elements that rarely or never occur as independent words. (Nakagawa 2024: 498) In a two-word serial verb construction, when the object noun is a common noun without an objective personal affix (i.e. third person), it takes the affiliative (possessed) form. (Nakagawa 2024: 499) In a two-word serial verb construction, when the object noun is a common noun carrying an objective personal affix, it appears in the concept form. (Nakagawa 2024: 499) In a two-word serial verb construction, when the object noun is a locative noun without an objective personal affix (i.e. third person), it takes the long form. (Nakagawa 2024: 499) In a two-word serial verb construction, when the object noun is a locative noun carrying an objective personal affix, it may appear in either the basic form or the long form. (Nakagawa 2024: 499) Incorporating an ordinary noun object into a transitive verb converts it into an intransitive compound verb, as in cipo 'row a boat' or rurkar 'prepare soup'. (Refsing 1986: 143) The form cisekar 'to build a house' is an incorporated compound verb where the object noun cise is combined with the verb kar. (Satō 2008: 183) cípo means 'to operate a boat' and is formed by incorporating cip 'boat' into o 'to ride'; while it has shifted from its literal meaning, an independent phrasal construction like cip k-o simply means 'I ride a boat'. (Satō 2008: 240) toyta is formed by incorporating toy 'soil' into ta 'to dig'. (Satō 2008: 241) The verb sikerayke 'glare at' is analyzed as sik 'eye' + applicative e- + rayke 'kill', combining noun incorporation of the object and the applicative prefix e-. (Satō 2008: 294) The object noun turep 'wild lily' can be incorporated into the verb ta 'to dig', forming the incorporated verb stem turep-ta. (Satō 2016) In two-argument verbs, argument slots can be filled by combinations of subject and object personal affixes, derivational nominal prefixes like i- 'people', or incorporated nouns like cep 'fish' or me 'cold'. (Satō 2023) When a theme noun such as konkane 'gold' is additionally incorporated into u-w-omare, the verb's valence decreases to a one-argument intransitive verb, taking intransitive subject inflection (e.g. konkane-u-w-oma-re-an). (Satō 2023) In Ainu, when a nominal element is added inside a verb, the overall argument count in principle decreases regularly, converting a transitive verb into an intransitive verb. (Satō 2023) In the incorporated verb hoku-kore 'to give a husband to', it is the theme that is incorporated. (Satō 2023) Although wakka-ta-re incorporates the theme noun wakka 'water' and would structurally be expected to appear as a two-place verb, wakka-ta-re-an 'we make someone dip water' is realized as a one-place verb. (Satō 2023) The verb ta-re is converted into a one-place verb by the noun incorporation of wakka 'water'. (Satō 2023) Even when converted into a one-place verb through noun incorporation, the verb's underlying three-place argument-slot structure is retained such that the causee meaning persists with pragmatic implications. (proposed in Satō 2023) Noun incorporation in Ainu allows nouns to combine directly with verbs inside the clausal nucleus. (Satō 2025) All three arguments of a three-place verb can be morphologically marked inside the verb when combining personal affixes, derivational affixes, and noun incorporation, as in konkane-u-w-oma-re-an. (Satō 2025)
Detransitivization and person-marking consequences
What happens to argument count and person-marking when a transitive verb incorporates an object noun?
Obligatorily possessed nouns cannot be incorporated in their possessive forms. (reported in Bugaeva, Nichols & Bickel 2022) When a common noun concept form is incorporated into a verb, the arity of the resulting compound verb is reduced by 1 compared to the original verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 262) Because Ainu has no objective case marking, it is difficult in the third person to determine whether a combination of noun and transitive verb is one word or two words, and at present there is no basis for distinguishing them by accent or intonation. (Nakagawa 2024: 482) In the first, second, and fourth persons, the position of personal affixes provides the most reliable criterion for determining whether a noun-verb sequence is one word or two words. (Nakagawa 2024: 482) Because personal affixes in Ainu attach to the outermost edges of a verb, forms like cep ku=koyki show two separate words, whereas ku=cepkoyki shows a single word, because the concept form of a noun like cep cannot host personal affixes. (Nakagawa 2024: 482) In the fourth person, because intransitive and transitive subject affixes attach at different positions (prefix a= for transitive vs. suffix =an for intransitive), a form like cepkoyki=an can only be interpreted as a single intransitive word cepkoyki, since koyki alone is transitive and cannot take the intransitive suffix =an. (Nakagawa 2024: 482) Because verbal affixes attach only to verb stems and cannot stand alone, the sequence from an affix position to the verb root can be recognized as a single word, allowing elements like kotan in e-kotan-kor to be identified as incorporated even in the third person. (Nakagawa 2024: 483) Because prefixes like yay- and si- can attach to nouns with the meaning 'one's own' as well as to verbs, whether a form like yay-kotan-esina is one word or two must ultimately be determined by the position of first, second, or fourth person affixes (yaykotan a=esina vs. yaykotanesina=an). (Nakagawa 2024: 483) When a derivational prefix (i- 'someone', u- 'each other', yay- 'oneself', si- 'oneself') is attached to the locational noun or body-part noun of a separable verb, the noun is incorporated into the transitive verb, resulting in a single intransitive verb word. (Satō 2008: 231) In Ainu, an incorporated noun cannot be marked for personal agreement (such as the person of the possessor) within the same word by replacing a derivational prefix with an objective personal prefix (e.g. *ku-phi-kese-anpa is impossible; only the separable verb shape kese k-anpa is permitted). (Satō 2008: 232) In the Iburi dialect recorded by Chiri, the verb form wakka-ta-re-an, incorporating wakka 'water', inflects like a one-argument intransitive verb. (reported in Satō 2023) In Kanari's epic texts, the noun-incorporating verb itak-omare inflects as transitive with the prefix a-, as in a-itakomare. (Satō 2023) In noun incorporation, the subjective person marker precedes the incorporated noun rather than immediately preceding the verb stem as it does in the corresponding phrasal expression. (Satō 2022: 16.2) Because derivational possessor prefixes such as yay- 'self' and i- 'someone, something' are word-internal and do not require an antecedent outside the verb, derivational possessor-requiring object noun incorporation does not cause possessor stranding. (Satō 2022: 16.4) Transitive possessor-requiring object noun incorporation is in principle considered to be non-existent in Ainu. (Satō 2022: 16.5) Direct object incorporation turns transitive clauses into intransitive clauses, causing transitive subject affixes (such as a- or ci-) to be replaced by intransitive subject affixes (such as -an or -as). (Shibatani 1990: 62) Some incorporated forms retain their transitive subject affix when a derived direct object is present. (Shibatani 1990) A transitive verb that undergoes noun incorporation generally exhibits intransitive personal agreement morphology, though dialectal variation may occur. (Shibatani 1990)
The four NI types and Chitose frequencies
By what grammatical relations are the four types of noun incorporation classified, and what are their frequencies in the Chitose dialect?
Inflectionally marked possessor-requiring object noun incorporation is impossible in Ainu, representing a structural gap in the incorporation system. (Satō 2022: 16.4, 16.6) O-incorporation is by far the most common type of noun incorporation in Ainu and cross-linguistically, leading to a decrease of valency by one. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) O-incorporation is frequent in Ainu, whereas S- and A-incorporation are rare. (Bugaeva 2012: 492–493) Class III Type iii verbs are compound verbs that infix subject personal affixes, but semantically lack objective conjugation other than third person, and therefore cannot form incorporated objective forms. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) According to Sato (2012) for the Chitose dialect, incorporation is classified into four types: 'object + transitive verb', 'subject (natural force) + intransitive verb', 'possessor-requiring noun subject + intransitive verb', and 'subject (natural force) + transitive verb', with the 'object + transitive verb' type being overwhelmingly dominant due to constraints like the Subject Incorporation Constraint and the Specificity Constraint. (reported in Nakagawa 2024: 483) In Ainu verbs, while object nouns can be incorporated as a general rule, subject incorporation is more restricted, generally limited to certain intransitive verbs, and incorporation of transitive subjects is extremely rare. (Nakagawa 2024: 484) Because incorporation of a transitive subject is not common, it is preferable to analyze o in píro as 'have (inside)' and pir 'wound' as its incorporated object, avoiding conflict with the general tendency of incorporation. (proposed in Satō 2008) Noun incorporation in the Chitose dialect of Ainu can be classified into four types: object incorporation (85.9%), intransitive natural-force/phenomenon subject incorporation (6.8%), intransitive possessor-requiring subject incorporation (5.6%), and transitive natural-force/phenomenon subject incorporation (1.7%). (Satō 2016) Noun incorporation in Ainu exhibits an accessibility hierarchy based on frequency: object NI > natural-force noun intransitive subject NI > possessor-requiring noun intransitive subject NI > natural-force noun transitive subject NI. (Satō 2016) A possessor-requiring noun object noun incorporation proper does not occur in Ainu. (Satō 2016) Object noun incorporation in Ainu belongs to Type I in Mithun's (1984) classification, in that the incorporated noun stem functions only within the word and has no grammatical relationship with elements outside the word. (Satō 2022: 16.3) In place of the non-occurring possessor-requiring object noun incorporation, Ainu uses special idiomatic phrasal expressions traditionally referred to as the 'third type verb'. (Satō 2022: 16.6) Accessibility to noun incorporation and quasi-incorporation in Ainu follows the hierarchy: Object > Intransitive Subject (natural force) > Intransitive Subject (possessive) > Transitive Subject (natural force) > Object (possessive, marked by quasi-incorporation). (proposed in Satō 2022: 16.6)
Semantic fields of incorporated objects
From which semantic fields are incorporated object nouns drawn, and how are those fields distributed in the Chitose data?
Lexical object incorporation of body-part nouns such as he 'head' and ho 'buttock' is common in Ainu. (Nam 2021) A primary condition for noun incorporation in Ainu is that the incorporated noun possesses no or extremely low agentivity. (Satō 2008: 225) Incorporated nouns most frequently belong to semantic fields of space, body parts, plants, tools/house, and fire. (Satō 2022: 16.3)
The genericity restriction and the lexical character of Object NI
What semantic property must an incorporated object noun have, and what does that reveal about the lexical nature of the construction?
Incorporated noun stems in Ainu must be generic or low in specificity, which rules out the incorporation of proper nouns. (Satō 2008: 226, Satō 2022: 16.2) Objects that are simultaneously animate, specific, and referential cannot undergo O-incorporation. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) In causatives of transitive verbs, cases of incorporating both the original object and the causee object are lexicalized. (Bugaeva 2014) Aside from lexically frozen forms like ikutasa/ikutaspa 'hold a banquet', instances of Type-C transitive verbs incorporating their objects and becoming intransitive are comparatively rare in Ainu. (Nakagawa 2022: 17.4) The possessor-requiring noun object noun incorporation form *a-i-par-oyki ('I am fed by others') is ungrammatical because the subject is not co-referential with the possessor of the incorporated noun. (Satō 2016) Idiomatic object-plus-verb phrases such as ka opas ('to save') and ka oyki ('to take care of') function as quasi-incorporation units forming a grammatical phrase but a lexical unit semantically. (Satō 2016) Possessor-requiring noun object incorporation is not permitted in Ainu and is substituted by quasi-incorporation. (Satō 2016) Examples in Ainu that have both an incorporated form and a corresponding syntactic phrase are limited, indicating that noun incorporation is essentially highly lexical rather than systematically grammaticalized. (Satō 2022: 16.3) The idiomatic [O+V] phrases replacing possessor-requiring object noun incorporation in Ainu are grammatically phrases but semantically lexical units, functioning as a subtype of quasi-incorporation. (proposed in Satō 2022: 16.6) In the memoirs of Kura Sunasawa representing colloquial Ishikari Ainu, only a single pair of parallel incorporated and unincorporated expressions is found. (Shibatani 1990: 60) Forms where rusuy 'want' appears to incorporate a verb phrase (e.g. wakka-ku-rusuy-an) are better interpreted as compounds formed first (e.g. ku-rusuy) into which the object noun is subsequently incorporated. (proposed in Shibatani 1990)