The Polysynthesis Parameter

Baker argues that polysynthetic languages - in which verbs are built up of many parts and where one verb can act as a whole sentence - are more than an accidental collection of morphological processes; rather they adopt a systematic way of representing predicate-argument relationships, parallel to but distinct from the system used for English. This idea has repercussions for many areas of syntax and morphology, resulting in a comprehensive picture of the grammar of polysynthetic languages.