Is Head Movement Still Needed for Noun Incorporation

This paper compares Baker’s head-movement analysis of noun incorporation to alternative nonlexicalist theories of noun incorporation, including Massam’s pseudoincorporation analysis, Van Geenhoven’s base generation analysis, and the Koopman/Szabolcsi analysis in terms of remnant movement. It is shown that the headmovement approach captures important facts about noun incorporation in the Mapudungun language that the other theories would so far leave unexplained. I conclude that the device of head-movement is still needed in generative theory, contrary to the reductivist hopes of some minimalist syntacticians.