Abstract

This paper inquires into two issues of Hungarian PPs. Firstly, when Hungarian pronouns bear an oblique case, the case marker must be followed by possessive agreement. Secondly, this pronoun-case-agreement order contrasts with the order found in garden variety possessive structures: ordinary possessive DPs feature the order noun-agreement-case. The goal of this paper is to offer an account of these puzzling phenomena. I argue that a PP structure in which PPs are projected from a silent place noun and the Ground is merged as the possessor of place (Terzi 2005, 2008, 2010; Botwinik-Rotem 2008; Botwinik-Rotem and Terzi 2008; Pantcheva 2008; Cinque 2010a; Noonan 2010, and Nchare and Terzi 2014) allows an enlightening analysis of the appearance and position of the possessive agreement in PPs. I also discuss how certain surface differences between PPs and ordinary possessive constructions can be accounted for while maintaining the possessive analysis of PPs. By showing that a PP structure with a possessive core yields a natural account of the intricate Hungarian data, the paper strengthens the case for a possessive-based approach to PPs in Universal Grammar.

Highlights

  • It is well known that the relative order of agreement markers with respect to other morphemes shows considerable cross-linguistic variation both in the clause and within the noun phrase

  • There is a long list of papers arguing that the PP-hierarchy is projected from a silent noun with a place semantics (PLACE), and the Ground is merged as the possessor of PLACE.2

  • I argued that adopting a possessive structure for PPs, whereby the Ground is the possessor of a silent PLACE noun, can successfully account for the questions raised above

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Summary

Introduction

It is well known that the relative order of agreement markers with respect to other morphemes shows considerable cross-linguistic variation both in the clause and within the noun phrase In standard Hungarian, first and second person singular pronouns do not bear an overt Accusative case suffix; they only have the agreement marker. First and second person plural pronouns have both the agreement marker and the Accusative case suffix (2b). In all cases when the agreement marker and the Accusative case marker co-occur, the morpheme order is as expected on the basis of (1): the case suffix follows the agreement marker. As for oblique marked pronouns, the case marker precedes the agreement (and pronouns bear agreement in third person as well). The obligatory possessive agreement on Accusative pronouns as well as the order of that agreement and the Accusative case are the topic of Section 7.

Background assumptions about PP structure
The agreement on oblique pronouns
Caselike Ps are like oblique cases
Possessive-like properties of oblique PPs and caselike Ps beyond agreement
PP agreement is agreement between PLACE and the Ground
Deriving the variation in morpheme order
The structure of ordinary possessive noun phrases
The order pronoun-case-agreement in PPs
The order noun-agreement-case in DPs
The nature of PLACE
The case of the possessor
The possessive marker
Comparison with previous approaches
Accusative pronouns
Conclusions
Full Text
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