Typologising idiomaticity: Noun-verb idioms and their relations

Abstract

English noun-verb idioms such as spill the beans combine a verb with a noun which appears to be an argument but does not refer to an actual discourse participant. Noun-verb idioms are likely to be universal but there are two related types of idioms which are not. In the first, referred to as idiomatic nounincorporation, the argument-like element is a noun which is incorporated into a verb. An example is the Bininj Gun-wok expression -dalk-ngun 'die', which combines the verb -ngun 'eat' with the noun -dalk- 'grass'. In the second, the argument-like element is a bound pronominal in the verb with fixed gender features. An example is the Mawng verb -marrajpu 'walk', which always has Land gender ..