A novel architecture for pseudo-incorporation

Abstract Pseudo-noun incorporation (PI), typically characterized by a theme NP that is adjacent to the verb and lacks case-marking, is recognized as a phenomenon distinct from noun incorporation, with unique morpho-syntactic and semantic properties that also set it apart from canonical argumentation. This paper explores a lesser-studied variant of PI involving agent arguments, which requires a surface word order that reverses the universal thematic hierarchy. This reversal raises questions about its impact on two crosslinguistic reflections of transitive syntax: accusative case and ϕ -agreement with objects. Through an empirical investigation of Turkish and Laz, we demonstrate that the case and agreement patterns in clauses with agent PI are identical to those where the agent is not incorporated. Given the view that the incorporated agent is merged lower than the theme argument (Öztürk 2005, 2009), an explanation is needed for this parallelism. To address this, we propose a general architecture that models the syntactic and semantic properties of PI. Drawing on dependent theoretic accounts of accusative case in Turkish (Baker and Vinokurova 2010) and object agreement in Laz (Bondarenko and Zompì 2025), we postulate a null “anchor” pronoun in subject position in clauses with agent PI. Our analysis builds a two-layered verbal structure based on the semantics of PI proposed in Sağ (2022, 2025), where PI occurs at the level of event kinds (VP-internally) and canonical argumentation at the level of event tokens (VP-externally). Extending the anchor pro analysis to theme PI, we position it as a semantically contentful element within the event token domain that substitutes for the incorporated argument of the event kind. Serving as a pivotal connection between the two layers of the event domain, pro ensures the dependencies required for case and ϕ -agreement outputs.