This study 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.

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.

Baker's findings regarding Mohawk reflexive verbs are interesting ... this is an important book ... Almost the entire book is very readable. Baker has the ability to communicate the backbone of a linguistic argument to linguists ... I learned more about GB and Principles & Parameters from this book than I have from putatively introductory works.