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date: 05 March 2021

Abstract and Keywords

Mohawk is a language of the Iroquoian family of northeastern North America, spoken in Quebec, Ontario, and New York State. Like other Iroquoian languages, it is polysynthetic: words, particularly verbs, can consist of many meaningful parts (morphemes). Often, what is said in a single verb in Mohawk would be expressed in a multi-word sentence in other languages such as English. This fundamental difference in grammatical structure raises interesting questions about the boundaries between morphology and syntax. Perhaps the most intriguing involve a robust kind of noun–verb compounding called noun incorporation. This chapter discusses Mohawk words, noun incorporation, determiner phrases, possession, the noun–verb relationship, semantic transparency and idiomaticity, productivity, and reference.

Keywords: Iroquoian languages, compounds, compounding, noun incorporation, determiner phrases, possession, noun–verb relationship, idiomaticity

Marianne Mithun

Marianne Mithun is Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests include morphology, syntax, discourse, and their interaction; contact; language change; typology; documentation; languages indigenous to North America, particularly Mohawk, Cayuga, and Tuscarora (Iroquoian), Central Pomo, Central Alaskan Yup’ik, Navajo, Barbareño Chumash, and Lakhota; and Kapampangan, Selayarese, and Waray (Austronesian).

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