Re Hungarian again

Abstract

This paper is concerned with repetitive adverbials in Hungarian. It presents an overview of the different Hungarian equivalents of again, addressing their properties and their relevance. One of the goals of this paper is descriptive; it offers a systematic description of Hungarian repetitives. In addition, it provides evidence for two major claims. First, meaning differences (including the restitutive -repetitive ambiguity) are due to structural rather than lexical differences. Second, repetitives do not form a homogeneous set. The possible scope positions and in some cases, the denotation, of repetitive adverbials differs. This difference, in general, cannot be predicted from the morphological makeup of the repetitives, so an independent specification of the unexpected properties is necessary.

Back to restitutives (again): A syntactic account of restitutive and counterdirectional verbal particles in Hungarian

“…Hungarian repetitive adverbs can appear in various positions in the clause, as Csirmaz (2015) describes, they can appear after the structural Topic, after quantifiers, and postverbally, as well.…”

“…For Hungarian, Csirmaz (2015) provided a list and description of repetitive adverbs (2) and proposed an account, subscribing to the view that structural differences are behind the basic distinction between repetitive and restitutive readings. The adverbials in (2a) here are of various morphological forms, and only two of them have a restitutive reading besides the repetitive one; these are megint and ujra 'again'.…”

“…carefully, (4). According to the analysis proposed by Csirmaz (2015), following others, a repetitive element has to be inserted low in the structure in order to have a restitutive reading, thus favoring a structural approach to accounting for the different readings. She argues that only megint and ujra are inserted low enough in the structure to be restitutive, the other Hungarian repetitive adverbs are always inserted higher than the agent.…”

“…The sentence in (4) contains a verbal particle preceding the verb, and when the adverb megint 'again' is inserted higher than that but lower than the adverb ovatosan 'carefully', it can have a restitutive interpretation, i.e., it can refer to the restoration of an end state with a possibly different agent (or no agent involved). This is a relevant point since Csirmaz (2015) notes that when we have ujra 'again' in a sentence instead of megint, it can also fill the preverbal position occupied by verbal particles and other resultative elements (among others). Csirmaz (2015) also pays attention to this use of ujra 'again', calling it a verbal modifier in the clause, in sentences such as (5).…”

“…This is a relevant point since Csirmaz (2015) notes that when we have ujra 'again' in a sentence instead of megint, it can also fill the preverbal position occupied by verbal particles and other resultative elements (among others). Csirmaz (2015) also pays attention to this use of ujra 'again', calling it a verbal modifier in the clause, in sentences such as (5).…”