Subject suppression or lexical PRO?. The case of derived nominals in Hungarian

Anna Szabolcsi

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The paper examines Hungarian data in the light of Grimshaw's (1990) theory. Grimshaw's claim that (only) complex event nominals have an argument structure is confirmed. On the other hand, it is argued that the argument structure of a Hungarian complex event nominal is identical to that of the corresponding verb. The apparent differences cannot be attributed to external argument suppression, which is the analysis Grimshaw proposes for English. Rather, they need to be accounted for with reference to Case-assignment and the availability of a PRO subject with controlled or arbitrary interpretation. PROarb is shown to have both a quasi-universal and a quasi-existential reading. PRO is not syntactic, however, but receives a theta-role in lexical structure.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)149-176
    Number of pages28
    JournalLingua
    Volume86
    Issue number2-3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Mar 1992

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Language and Linguistics
    • Linguistics and Language

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