Subject Incorporation and Derivation by the Affricative Prefix e-/o- in Ainu

Abstract

Some Ainu verbs incorporate nouns that function as arguments. This phenomenon is known as “incorporation,” and this study focuses on subject incorporation. Sato (2012) noted that the subject is typically an element that is difficult to incorporate, but it can be included if it occupies only a background position in relation to the event as a whole. I examine the derivation by the prefix e-/o-. This has the same function as the affiliation form. I point out that intransitive verbs formed by subject incorporation have the property of unaccusative verbs and that the backgrounding of the original subject is confirmed in terms of derivation