The Polysynthesis Parameter

This book investigates in detail the grammar of certain polysynthetic languages--those with very complex verbal morphology. Baker argues that one type of polysynthesis is more than an accidental collection of morphological processes; rather, it is a systematic way of representing predicate-argument relationships that is parallel to but distinct from the system used in languages like English.

Precisely expressed and embedded in a suitable theory of Universal Grammar, this idea has important re…