Perspectivization and modes of quoting in Hungarian

This paper examines modes of quoting with special regard to the organization of perspective. Due to the pragmatic interest of the study, our focus is on the functioning of two context-dependent vantage points, the subject of consciousness and the referential centre. Our key question about the former is to whom speaking as a sign of active consciousness is attributed and how this is linguistically marked. As regards the latter, the central issue is from where and how the spatio-temporal and interpersonal relations of the quoted discourse are represented.Further problems to be discussed include the questions of how and to what extent quoting is associated with pragmatic or metapragmatic awareness, and how various quoting modes may differ along this dimension.Although the paper is mostly concerned with a ‘universal pragmatic’ characterization of the functioning of perspective in quotations, it also highlights some language-particular features of Hungarian quoting strategies and touches on their evolution in the history of the language

Toward a unified functional account of structural focus and negation in Hungarian

The goal of this paper is to provide a unified analysis of the function of various types of (structural) focus and the negative particle (used preverbally) in Hungarian. It is argued that the function of these elements (each inducing the inversion of verbal modifier and verb) is best understood with respect to the interpretation assigned to the verbal predicate in different contexts. By treating the verbal predicate as a schematic positive declarative clause (or “proto-statement”) in its default interpretation, it becomes possible to define the function of the elements concerned in terms of the kind of relation in which they stand with the proto-statement, the kind of relation in which the overall symbolic pattern (as a Gestalt) stands with the unmarked positive declarative clause type