Athapaskan languages have many complex predicates, with properties usually associated with a head – determination of argument structure and of event structure – informed by two (or more) elements within the verb word. In this paper I examine the syntax and semantics of a certain type of complex predicates, those with what I call activity incorporates. These translate in the following kinds of ways: walk around laughing (with ‘laugh’ incorporated), sit fishing (with a stem specifying the means of fishing incorporated), cry (with the incorporate ‘cry’ and a verb stem that means ‘say’).
The verb stems in structures with activity incorporates are drawn from a restricted set of semantic classes: the stems can be verbs of motion, verbs of saying, and verbs of position. The incorporated elements too are drawn from a restricted set. They are related to unergative activity verbs, but are nominal morphologically. The meanings of the constructions are also restricted in nature, with there being a single segment and simultaneity of event required.
In this talk I examine the nature of the restrictions, both morphosyntactic and semantic, on the stems and the incorporates. While activity incorporation best resembles coindexation rather than merger, as outlined by Baker and Harvey, it is not unrestricted, nor does it involve two verbs.