Pseudo noun incorporation is M-Merger: evidence from Balinese

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that adjacency alone can license a nominal by demonstrating that properties of Balinese PNI are incompatible with either (covert) Head Movement (Baker 2012) or with a bare NP analysis (Massam 2001). The Balinese data are compatible with a scenario in which the nominal head happens to be adjacent to the verb. In this configuration, head-head adjacency licenses the nominal via M(orphological)-Merger (Marantz 1984). Under the proposed analysis, Balinese PNI is a last resort strategy, which vacuously satisfies the Case Filter.