Hungarian displays a characteristic syntax, that within the generative approach was
called non-configurational. For this reason its description is at least unusual, and it
cannot be taught with the same formal concepts used for most of the other European
languages.
Functional approaches, with Functional Discourse Grammar among them, seem to
be especially useful in both describing and teaching Hungarian, because they allow
the interplay between pragmatics, syntax and semantics. This article sets the most
important traditional assumptions about Hungarian syntax within the functional
approach, concentrating on issues with word order. It is suggested that the so-called
post-verbal field is very important. The central claim is that in a Hungarian sentence
not only is the context of the expression recognized, given by the Topic and a possible
Focus of communication, but also a distinct target of our discourse: a constituent
signalling what we are speaking of that facilitates the making of the sentence
