Knowledge base · Part XI — Valency, Voice, and Noun Incorporation · this topic as a network
89. Subject Incorporation and Possessor-Stranding
How does Hokkaido Ainu incorporate subjects into verbs, and what are the patterns and restrictions involved?
Two kinds of subject incorporation
What are the main types of subject incorporation in Hokkaido Ainu, and how do they differ in function and structure?
Transitive subjects can be incorporated into verbs in Ainu. (Satō 2025, Satō 2022: 16.1) A-incorporation results in valency decrease, removing the original A from argument position while the original O is promoted to S. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) S-incorporation may either decrease valency by one and yield a zero-argument verb, or rearrange valency by introducing a new S argument when a noun (usually a body part or relational noun) is incorporated in its possessive form. (Bugaeva 2012: 490–491) Ainu exhibits valency-decreasing S-incorporation with natural phenomena nouns resulting in zero-valency verbs, valency-retaining S-incorporation with body part nouns, and valency-decreasing A-incorporation with natural phenomena and insect nouns. (Bugaeva 2022: 1.4) Except in the case of avalent (0-place) verbs, subject incorporation into intransitive verbs is restricted to the pattern of the affiliative form of a common noun plus a stative intransitive verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 489) The 1-place verbs formed by subject incorporation of an affiliative noun into a stative verb can be used directly as nouns, as seen in the names of plants and animals. (Nakagawa 2024: 489) Incorporation of an affiliative-form noun with an intransitive verb is extremely rare, accounting for less than three percent of all noun incorporations. (Satō 2008: 226) An argument slot can be filled by incorporating an independent noun stem such as sir 'weather, situation' directly into the verb, representing subject incorporation. (Satō 2023) Verbs appearing in intransitive subject incorporation in Ainu are generally unaccusative. (reported in Satō 2022: 16.1) The major restrictions on incorporated nouns in Ainu are the restriction on subject incorporation and the restriction on specificity. (Satō 2022: 16.1) Subject noun incorporation in Ainu is extremely restricted compared to object noun incorporation, accounting for only a small percentage of incorporation tokens. (Satō 2022: 16.5) Incorporated noun stems in Ainu subject noun incorporation are almost entirely restricted to natural forces or body parts. (Satō 2022: 16.5)
Natural-force intransitive subject NI
How does Hokkaido Ainu incorporate natural-force nouns as intransitive subjects, and which stems are used?
Subject nouns incorporated into intransitive or transitive verbs are restricted to natural phenomena or powers of a similar nature, such as weather, cold, and deities. (Satō 2008: 226) In the predicate sir-pirka 'the weather is good', incorporation of the noun sir 'weather' is obligatory, with no corresponding unincorporated base clause. (Satō 2016) The complex verb sir-uhuy 'a wildfire breaks out' has its single guaranteed argument slot filled by subject incorporation, becoming an avalent (zero-argument) verb that can no longer take any noun arguments. (Satō 2023) Only two noun stems, sir 'weather, atmosphere' and me 'cold', have been found to occur in intransitive natural force or phenomenon subject incorporation. (Satō 2022: 16.3) Unlike object incorporation, intransitive natural force or phenomenon subject incorporation entirely lacks corresponding phrasal expressions, with the incorporated noun stem never appearing as an independent noun. (Satō 2022: 16.3) Noun stems for natural forces such as 'weather, atmosphere' or 'cold' are expressed with noun incorporation in most cases in Ainu. (Satō 2022: 16.5) The predicate mean 'be cold' can be etymologically analyzed as me 'coldness' plus the existential verb an. (Shibatani 1990) Subjectless meteorological and ambient intransitive expressions can be analyzed as instances of noun incorporation where the subject of an intransitive clause is incorporated into the verb. (Shibatani 1990)
Possessor-requiring intransitive subject NI and possessor stranding
What is possessor stranding in Hokkaido Ainu, and how does it arise from incorporating body-part or relational nouns?
In incorporated verbs such as e-ram-(u)-an / e-ram-u-oka 'understand', formed with the existential verb an / oka and an incorporated possessed noun subject, the number alternation of an / oka agrees with the possessor of the incorporated noun, which functions as the overall subject. (Nakagawa 2022: 17.4) Except in rare cases, Ainu cannot index person related to an incorporated noun (namely, the person of the possessor) within the same word, with 'possessed form + intransitive verb' compounds being an exceptional pattern where the possessor undergoes nominative agreement. (proposed in Satō 2008: 232) In the construction ku-tek-e-pase, the first-person singular prefix ku- is promoted to the subject of the entire clause and is stranded from the possessed noun tek-e 'one's hand'. (Satō 2016) In intransitive possessor-requiring subject incorporation, the possessor of the incorporated noun is always interpreted reflexively as co-referential with the clause subject. (Satō 2016) In intransitive possessor-requiring subject incorporation, the possessor itself is unmarked on the incorporated noun and is interpreted reflexively according to the clausal subject. (Satō 2016) In Ainu, stranding noun incorporation is usually avoided. (Satō 2016) In Ainu, the hardest stranding noun incorporation involving an object that requires a possessor is eventually compensated by quasi-incorporation. (Satō 2016) Intransitive possessor-requiring subject incorporation belongs to Mithun's (1984) Type II, in which the incorporated noun stem manipulates the grammatical case of an external argument. (Satō 2022: 16.3) Intransitive possessor-requiring subject incorporation does not cause valency reduction, because the semantic possessor required by the incorporated stem (usually a body part) promotes to become the subject of the resulting verb. (Satō 2022: 16.3) In possessor-requiring subject noun incorporation, the possessor is not overtly marked on the noun but must semantically be coreferential with the subject of the clause. (Satō 2022: 16.4) In Ainu, noun incorporation with possessor stranding is generally avoided, and possessor stranding with an incorporated object is compensated for by quasi-incorporation. (Satō 2022: 16.7)
The agentivity restriction
Why does Hokkaido Ainu restrict subject incorporation to patient-subjects, and how does this relate to unaccusativity?
Both transitive subjects and agentive intransitive subjects are systematically excluded from noun incorporation in Ainu. (Shibatani 1990: 62) Incorporated nouns in Ainu are generally characterized by a low degree of agentivity rather than by unaccusativity. (Satō 2022: 16.1) Intransitive subjects incorporated into verbs in Ainu are semantically patient, occurring mostly in meteorological and ambient expressions, and agent incorporation does not occur. (Shibatani 1990: 62)
Natural-force transitive subject NI
How does Hokkaido Ainu incorporate natural-force nouns as transitive subjects, and in what morphological form must they appear?
Incorporation of a transitive subject detransitivizes the verb and promotes the original patient object to subject position. (Satō 2025, Satō 2022: 16.3) Subject incorporation in transitive (2-place) verbs appears to be restricted to subjects expressing natural forces, where the incorporated subject is in the concept form, yielding a 1-place verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 489) The grammatical subject of a 1-place verb formed by transitive subject incorporation is the entity affected by the natural force, which corresponds semantically to the object of the base transitive verb. (Nakagawa 2024: 489) When a transitive verb incorporates its subject, the resulting verb becomes intransitive and takes subjective person affixes to index the semantic patient rather than objective affixes. (Satō 2008: 226) In traditional Ainu linguistics, píro is analyzed as pir-o 'wound enters', an incorporation of a subject into a transitive verb. (reported in Satō 2008) In the transitive natural-force subject incorporation construction ku-koy-yanke 'I am wave-raised', the subject koy 'wave' of koy en-yanke 'the wave raises me' is incorporated into the verb and the original object is promoted to subject. (Satō 2016) Transitive subject noun incorporation clauses like ku-koy-yanke are structurally ambiguous because the incorporated noun can also be interpreted as the direct object. (Satō 2016) Transitive natural force or phenomenon subject incorporation is attested with only seven noun stems: kamuy 'deity', koy 'wave', me 'cold', nis 'cloud', rera 'wind', rir 'wave', and sukus 'light'. (Satō 2022: 16.3) Transitive subject noun incorporation in the form of ku-koy-yanke is superficially ambiguous with simple object noun incorporation ('I raised a wave'). (Satō 2022: 16.5)
The ko- applicative inside sir- verbs
How does the ko- applicative function in sir- based meteorological verbs, and what argument structure does it create?
The prefix shir- can refer to the earth or ground, as in shir-shimoye 'earthquake' and shir-rupush 'the earth freezes'. (Kindaichi & Chiri 1936) Because applicative prefixes cannot attach to nouns, a noun–verb sequence preceded by an applicative prefix serves as a diagnostic of genuine noun incorporation. (Shibatani 1990: 62)