Non-canonical object constructions (NCOCs) pose two major challenges for contemporary linguistics. First, NCOCs tend to express unitary concepts and are weakly compositional. Second, the composition of verbs and oblique objects in NCOCs is not captured in standard formal semantics. The present study draws evidence from fresh observations to contend that NCOCs should be treated as instances of semantic incorporation. To resolve the compositionality issue, the article proposes that the composition of NCOCs is mediated by a relation function, a pragmatically regulated choice function over the set of thematic roles. The present analysis adds further weight to the thesis that semantic incorporation is available in both morphologically incorporated languages (polysynthetic languages) and morphologically unincorporated languages (analytic languages).