Multiple operator movements in Hungarian

Multiple operator movements in Hungarian

Multiple operator movements in Hungarian investigates multiple operator constructions in Hungarian adopting a radically derivational minimalist model which heavily restricts the role of pre-fabricated functional A-bar projections, and which holds that it is the verb in this language that carries and projects the relevant operator features in the course of structure building. A ‘substitution’ view of head movement is advocated, which is able to circumvent the complications related to head movement qua adjunction as conceived of in a standard checking theory of head movement. Operator projections are seen as the product of cyclic verb raising and projection of unsaturated checking features. The author builds on a careful examination of the following types of multiple A-bar movements, as well as their interactions: multiple focussing (both complex focus and true multiple focus), quantifier raising (and the differential scope-taking options of various quantifier classes), movement of negative quantifiers (in Negative Concord), and multiple wh movement (including conditions of single and list answers).
In general terms, the present study shifts the descriptive burden as much as possible from stipulated lexical properties of formal features and functional heads, as well as from a proliferation of process/operation types to the interaction of general principles governing structure building and movement in the computational system.
Multiple operator movements in Hungarian is a study into the syntax/semantics interface of multiple A-bar dependencies. It is of interest to scholars concerned with the grammar of the left periphery and quantification, as well as to syntacticians working in a minimalist paradigm in general.