Patterns of agreement with coordinate noun phrases in Hungarian

Abstract

The paper examines the agreement behavior of coordinate phrases (&Ps) on the basis of Hungarian data. It examines subject-verb agreement in number (and, in the case of pronominal subjects, also in person), and object-verb agreement in definiteness. Its primary goal is to account for the different agreement behavior of IP-internal and left-peripheral &Ps. It argues that because & has no φ-features of its own, &P assumes the φ-features projected by its conjuncts in formal agreement relations, and the features of its discourse referent in semantically motivated relations such as binding. In Hungarian, IP-internal agreement relations are formal relations, in which &P participates with the φ-features of its conjuncts. A left-peripheral &P, on the other hand, can be associated with a resumptive pro sharing its semantic features, and can be represented in agreement relations by its pro associate.