The Morphosyntax of Halkomelem Lexical Suffixes

Halkomelem has a hundred lexical suffixes. They are widely used on verbs, where they serve the role of theme or oblique. The commonly accepted view of lexical suffixation is that it does not alter core argument structure, as noun incorporation does, but rather adds an adverbial or adjectival specification to the stem. This paper presents evidence, based on interactions with applicatives, causatives, and reflexives, supporting instead the claim that lexical suffixes can in fact occupy argument positions in initial structure. Lexical suffixation, because it can internalize a core argument, affects argument structure. Thus, lexical suffixation is like compounding noun incorporation and can be ordered with other argument structure‐altering rules.