Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 61: Issue 1
Ways of licensing Hungarian external possessors
Author:
Katalin Kiss

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Pages:
45–68
Online Publication Date:
11 Mar 2014
Publication Date:
01 Mar 2014
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/aling.61.2014.1.2
Keywords:
external possessor; internal possessor; possessor movement; possessor topicalization; possessum incorporation
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This paper examines the status of Hungarian dative noun phrases interpreted as external possessors of a sister constituent. It challenges the widely accepted view put forth by Szabolcsi (1983; 1992, etc.) that external possessors are uniformly assigned a theta role by the possessum, and they are uniformly raised from its maximal projection via A-bar movement. It argues instead that external possessors can also be base-generated outside the projection of the possessum, binding its internal possessor, and can receive an ‘affected’ theta role from the verb. The paper distinguishes three different types of external possession, showing that they have different licensing conditions, and different agreement properties. (i) The external possessor can be generated externally, and be assigned an ‘affected’ theta role by the verb. The referential identity of the dative marked affected participant and the pro-dropped internal possessor is due to a binding relation between them. (ii) The external possessor can be licensed by information structure/logical structure: a case marked possessor can assume a topic, focus, or quantifier role on its own, and can be raised into the corresponding A-bar position independently, without its possessum. (iii) The external possessor can also be licensed by the semantic incorporation of its possessum. External possessors binding a pro and external possessors binding a trace in the projection of the possessum elicit different agreement on the possessum. The choice of agreement in the different types of external possession constructions has been tested with 40 native speakers, and the results have been used as evidence in their structural analyses.

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Cover Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Print ISSN:
1216-8076
Online ISSN:
1588-2624

Editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Katalin É. Kiss,
Ferenc Kiefer

Editor: Éva Dékány

Technical Editor: Zoltán G. Kiss

Review Editor: Beáta Gyuris

Editorial Board

  • Anne Abeillé
  • Željko Bošković
  • Marcel den Dikken
  • Hans-Martin Gärtner
  • Elly van Gelderen
  • Anders Holmberg
  • Katarzyna Jaszczolt
  • István Kenesei
  • Anikó Lipták
  • Katalin Mády
  • Gereon Müller
  • Csaba Pléh
  • Giampaolo Salvi
  • Irina Sekerina
  • Péter Siptár
  • Gregory Stump
  • Peter Svenonius
  • Anne Tamm
  • Akira Watanabe
  • Jeroen van de Weijer

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Phone: (+36 1) 351 0413; (+36 1) 321 4830 ext. 154
Fax: (36 1) 322 9297
E-mail: ala@nytud.mta.hu

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Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Language English
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Year of
Foundation		 1951
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Programme		 changed title
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Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia  
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Address		 H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
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ISSN 1216-8076 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2624 (Online)

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