Una categoria linguistica ambigua: i preverbi ungheresi

Abstract

The preverb represents the category of the Hungarian language that has the greatest impact on the argument structure and semantics of the verb. This formally reduced linguistic element is linked to the verb, in a neutral sentence in a preverbal position (hence the name ‘preverb”), sometimes behaving as a participant in an operation of composition, other times as a linguistic unit involved in a morphological process of derivational type. It exhibits an ambiguous syntactic behaviour as it seems to be part of the verbal phrase when it precedes the verb, but it can also move within the sentence as an autonomous constituent. This is why the question of the classification of preverbs is one of the most debated issues in Hungarian grammars, as we will show by comparing the positions held in this regard by the two main lines of thought, the traditionalist and the structuralist ones.