Syntax of Hungarian

Clearly written and comprehensive in scope, this is an essential guide to syntax in the Hungarian language. It describes the key grammatical features of the language, focusing on the phenomena that have proved to be theoretically the most relevant and have attracted the most attention. The analysis of Hungarian in the generative framework since the late Seventies has helped to bring phenomena which are non-overt in the English language into the focus of syntactic research. As Kiss shows, its results have been built into the hypotheses that make up universal grammar. The textbook explores issues at the centre of theoretical debates including the syntax and semantics of focus, the analysis of quantifier scope, and negative concord. This useful guide will be welcomed by students and researchers working on syntax and those interested in Finno-Ugric languages.

'It is entirely fitting that Katalin É. Kiss should be the author of this welcome addition to the Cambridge Syntax Guides series … This offers an introduction not only to aspects that have attracted international interest in recent years … but also to areas less explored in traditional Hungarian synchronic linguistics …'. Slavonic & East European Review, 'The book represents a systematic study of Hungarian sentance structure. In each chapter the reader is led through detailed arguementaions, a wealth of data and presentations of several previous analyses with their merits and shortcomings discussed. ... this book provides a detailed investigation of a wide range of phenomena in Hungarian syntax... It is both an invaluable summary of the results of contemporary syntactic research on Hungarian and original work in all senses of the word. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in issues concerning the structure of Hungarian.' Acta Linguistica Hungarica