The Incorporation of Covert Arguments in Indonesian Verbs

Indonesian verbal affixes determine the number of arguments that a verb takes, such as a verb containing the prefix meng- which typically has two arguments. In (1) meminum, which consists of the prefix meng- and minum “to drink”, has anak “child” and susu “milk” as its arguments. This pattern indicates that argument structure is defined syntactically, marked by verbal affixes. However, there are counterexamples that do not fit this rule. For instance, in (2), merokok (meng- + rokok “cigarette”) only has one argument Bapak “Father”. This paper explains how the incorporation of an argument to the verb (cf. Baker, 1988) makes the argument covert, resulting in verbs like merokok which seem to only have one argument. Once the covert argument is accounted for, the counterexamples are apparent and the claim that argument structure is defined in the syntax stands.