The nanosyntax of Hungarian postpositions

This article considers evidence for a Nanosyntactic approach to language from Hungarian PPs. Hungarian postpositions can be divided into classes: those which take a complement without morphologically visible case (dressed postpositions), and those which take an oblique complement (naked postpositions). This paper argues that in narrow syntax, both types of postpositions subcategorize for a KP complement. The difference between the two classes is captured in terms of the amount of structure they spell out. Dressed postpositions spell out both material in the P-domain and K, thus no Case is needed or possible on the complement, while naked postpositions spell out only material in the P-domain but not K, therefore their complement needs case. It is shown that from the proposed lexical representations an empirically motivated and insightful analysis of Hungarian postpositions ensues, which elegantly captures the different word-order possibilities of the two classes. 1

El + verb complex predicates in Hungarian

This paper investigates the structure of complex predicates com- prising the verbal particle el- (`away') and a verb in Hungarian. I show that el- has different meaning contributions to the predication when combined with different types of verbs. I argue that despite the three seemingly unrelated meanings of el-, two uses involve the same lexical item. In these unifiable cases I analyze el- as a mea- sure function that can measure in both the spatial and the temporal domains

Foundations of generative linguistics

This paper gives a broad overview of the ideas underlying the Chomskyan approach to linguistics. It identifies the main innovation of generative grammar in linguistics and clarifies some recurring misunderstandings about the language faculty, recursion and language universals. The paper also discusses some of the main empirical results of generative syntax

The position of case markers relative to possessive agreement : Variation within Hungarian

This paper inquires into two issues of Hungarian PPs. Firstly, when Hungarian pronouns bear an oblique case, the case marker must be followed by possessive agreement. Secondly, this pronoun-case-agreement order contrasts with the order found in garden variety possessive structures: ordinary possessive DPs feature the order noun-agreement-case. The goal of this paper is to offer an account of these puzzling phenomena. I argue that a PP structure in which PPs are projected from a silent place noun and the Ground is merged as the possessor of place (Terzi 2005, 2008, 2010; Botwinik-Rotem 2008; Botwinik-Rotem and Terzi 2008; Pantcheva 2008; Cinque 2010a; Noonan 2010, and Nchare and Terzi 2014) allows an enlightening analysis of the appearance and position of the possessive agreement in PPs. I also discuss how certain surface differences between PPs and ordinary possessive constructions can be accounted for while maintaining the possessive analysis of PPs. By showing that a PP structure with a possessive core yields a natural account of the intricate Hungarian data, the paper strengthens the case for a possessive-based approach to PPs in Universal Grammar

Nem jöttem hínia az igazakat : Az ómagyar anti-egyezetett főnévi igenevekről

controlled PRO subject. These infinitives could optionally agree with their subject, anti-agree with it (3SG agreement but non-3SG subject), or show no agreement. I argue that infinitives without agreement contain no agreement features, while agreeing and anti-agreeing ones do so. I propose that Old Hungarian infintives can be optionally strong or weak phases, and the difference in strength correlates with the two agreement types. When the infinitive is a weak phase, PRO can get referene in the canonical position (the specifier of the infinitival TP). Here PRO is probed by T’s agreement features and it values these features, yielding regular agreement. Antiagreement occurs when the infinitive is a strong phase. In this case the phase boundary between the PRO and its controller prevents PRO from getting reference in spec, TP. In order to get reference, PRO either has to move to the edge of the infinitival phase, or it has to get referene in the postsyntactic component. In either case, PRO gets reference when it cannot be probed by T’s agreement features any more. To prevent these features from reaching the interfaces without a value, a default feature-filling mechanism rescues the derivation as a last resort. The analysis supports binding or agreement based theories of control, as opposed to the movement analysis