On a multifunctional derivational affix: Its use in relational adjectives or nominal modification and phrasal affixation in Hungarian

Abstract

The -i derivative affix is an old conundrum in the grammar of Hungarian. It is regularly classified as a fully productive affix deriving adjectives from nouns of various semantic properties including geographical and proper names. It is usually also claimed that it can occur on postpositions and some adverbials, but since these are closed classes the use of the affix in these cases is not productive. We challenge the accepted wisdom and argue that the affix is productive across the board and the meanings its derivatives represent are highly predictable. Canonical adjectives have a number of characteristics that these derivative adjectives do not, which suggests that the latter are an alternative to modification by noun, rather than adjectives proper. On the other hand, i-affixation can take referential noun phrases as its base, a phenomenon found in other morphological processes in this language, as well as in other languages. Referential adjectives based on inherently referential expressions, proper names in particular, can carry over the referential function in a conceptual-semantic, though not in a syntactic sense. I-modifiers work much the same way in Hungarian, but there are also differences, as shown in relation to result nominals as well as complex event nominals.