Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Volume/Issue:
Volume 63: Issue 2
The syntactic position and quantificational force of FCIs in Hungarian
Author:
Tamás Halm Pázmány Péter Catholic University

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Pages:
241–276
Online Publication Date:
Jun 2016
Publication Date:
01 Jun 2016
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/064.2016.63.2.4
Keywords:
free-choice items; quantification; syntax-semantics interface; syntax; semantics
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The topic of my paper is the syntax and the quantificational force of free-choice items (FCIs) in Hungarian. FCIs such as any have been at the forefront of research interest in the past decades (e.g., Ladusaw 1979; Kadmon & Landman 1993; Giannakidou 2001). The close interdependence of syntactic, semantic and even pragmatic considerations makes the study of FCIs one of the most interesting research programmes. Earlier investigations of the syntax and semantics of FCIs in Hungarian include Hunyadi (1991; 2002), Abrusán (2007) and Szabó (2012). In my paper, I show that FCIs in Hungarian occupy the syntactic position associated with distributive quantifiers (É. Kiss 2010). Furthermore, I examine the quantificational force of FCIs by the well-known battery of quantification tests (for a previous application for Hungarian, cf. Surányi 2006): almost-modification, modification by exceptive phrase, donkey anaphora, predicative use, is-modification, incorporation and split reading with modals. My findings of mixed quantificational behaviour provide further corroboration for the analysis of FCIs as quantificationally underspecified intensional dependent indefinites.

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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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Acta Linguistica Hungarica
Language English
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Year of
Foundation		 1951
Publication
Programme		 changed title
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Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia  
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Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
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ISSN 1216-8076 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2624 (Online)

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