Marácz, László Károly

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   University of GroningenAssymetries in Hungarian = Assymmetrieën in het HongaarsMarácz, László KárolyIMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordPublication date:1989Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research databaseCitation for published version (APA):Marácz, L. K. (1989). Assymetries in Hungarian = Assymmetrieën in het Hongaars. s.n.CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license.More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne-amendment.Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.Download date: 08-06-2022SummaryAsymmetries in HungarianThe purpose of this study is to defend the thesis that Hungarian is a mnfigurationallanguage. This thesis is studied here within the Government and Binding frameworkas put forward in Chomsky (1981; and subsequent literature). lt is empiricallymotivated by the investigation of a number of unrelated syntactic phenomena. Thisleads to the conclusion that Hungarian is an SOVlanguage. ThereÍore, it is incorrectto assign the Hungarian clause a non-conÍigurational "Ílat" structure, as Íor examplein E. Kiss (1987a).Chapter one is an introduction to this study. lt reviews the modules of UG and howthey interact with the syntax of Hungarian.Chapter two discusses the configurationality issue in general and with respect toHungarian in particular. lt has been argued, Íor example in Hale (1981), that theso-called non-configurational l nguages are characterized by the absence of a VP.E. l(ss (1981a; and subsequent articles) has claimed that the Hungarian sententialclause is non-conÍigurational s well, because it exhibits free word order and subject-object symmetries. lt is concluded here that from a theoretical point of view it isunwanted to set "deep" parameters, like ConÍigurationality Parameters. Moreover,such parameters make empirically Íalse predictions. All languages which have beenclaimed to be non-configuratíonal display subject-object asymmetries. This is also thecase in Hungarian.Chapterthree elaborates ïhe phrase structure of Hungarian. lt appears thatword orderis less Íree than traditionally has been assumed. Hungarian has a basic SOV-order.Furthermore, some implications of other hypotheses with respect to its phrasestructure are examined involving V-movement,'weak' inflection, and free recursion ofCP.Chapter four discusses some properties of the bxicon in Hungarian. lt is argued herethat the syntactic representation of predicative items, the LS, is asymmetric, just asin other languages. Therefore, the absence of syntactically induced transitivity alter-nations cannot be an argument for the claim that there is no structural subject-predi-cate partitioning of the sentence. A parametrization of principles which relate o-roles4 1 1and syntactic structure is proposed to account Íor some differences between Ënglishand Hungarian concerning transitivity alternatrons.Chapter Íive demonstrates that he Projectian Principle is operative in Hungarian aswell. This principle guaranteesthatthe mapping between LS and syntax is one-to-one.For each lexical argument here is exactly one syntactic constituent present. Somephenomena are apparently in conflict with this hypothesis like the dropping ofpronouns or split constituents. The former is, however, an instance of pro-drop, andthe latter is covered by a theory of predication.Chapter six discusses the problem of the parallel occurrence of clusters o'f subject-object symmetries and subject-object asymmetries in Hungarian. These clustersappear to be heterogeneous in the sense that they are distributed over the differentmodules oÍthe grammar. ThereÍore, it is reasonable to suppose that they must bothbe subsumed by a theory of UG. The subject-object asymmetries are derived Íromthe structure which is generated by the categorial component oÍ the grammar. Thepresence of this cluster supports the claim that the phrase structure oÍ Hungarian isstrictly hierarchically organised. The subject-object symmetries, on the other hand,do not Íorm a counterexample to the VP-hypothesis, because they occur in uncon-troversial configurational languages as well. After reduction of this cluster, only aresidue oÍ the ConÍigurationality Parameter emains.Chapter seven examines long Wh/Focus-movemenÍ in Flungarian. lt appears that itis a strictly locai phenomenon which applies successive cyclicly. This is also the casewith an alternative strategy of overt long Wh-movement, the so-called mit-strategy.With this strategy, the real Wh-phrase does not appear in the position of its scope butit remains in the Focus position of its clausal domain. lts scope position is marked bya dummy Wh-phrase mrï 'what-ACC'.  ln mult ip le mbedded Wh-quest ions, a repet i-tion oÍ mit occurs in each clausal domain making the locality effect visible. Further-more, the properties of this phenomenon support hypotheses involving the structureof CP, the Projection Principle, the VP-hypothesis, trace theory, and the Correspon-dence Hypothesis. This latter principle states that the grammar of scope obeys thesame conditions on government and bounding as the grammar oÍ Wh-traces. As aconsequence, a separate level Íor the representation of scope, like LF, is superfluous.Chapter eight investigates the PP in Hungarian. Some postpositions may be inflectedfor person-number agreement (AGR) when they select a pronominal complement. Bycomparing inÍlected PPs, non-inÍlected PPs and possessive NPs (which contain AGRas well), we can isolate its properties. AGR in Hungarian has no phrase-structuralprominence, it is agreemenÍ in traditional sense. This supports the hypothesis thatthis morpheme is weak in Hungarian. Furthermore, it may identify a pro-complement.Hence, Hungarian is pro-drop in inflected PPs and NPs as well. Finally, the Íact thatPPs and NPs are treadJinalprovides empirical eMdence Íor the SOV-hypothesis ofHungarian.412The concluding chapter argues why claims made by studies takingïhe Hungarian-as-a-different-language-doctrine as a point of departure are implausible. Futhermore, itlists the most important results of this study. These results originate Írom the view thatthe idea of an abstract and fairly uniform underlying structure across languages offersa fruitful paradigm Íor the research oÍ languages.t as)ne.)melo Íandid-lers'entroth'omlher i snd,on-YaIt itlsegv.butbyeti-er-Jre)n-:nei aJS.edBy)Rralratnt.latof

Assymetries in Hungarian = Assymmetrieën in het Hongaars

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Assymetries in Hungarian = Assymmetrieën in het Hongaars

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