Implicit Subject and Direct Object Arguments in Hungarian Language Use: Grammar and Pragmatics Interacting (Pragmatic Interfaces)

This book studies how Hungarian verbs can occur with implicit subject and direct object arguments in a complex approach. On the basis of the critical evaluations of the previous literature on implicit arguments, analyses of a wide spectrum of data from various direct sources, and theoretical explanations, all of which were supported by systematic metatheoretical considerations, it concludes that in Hungarian, verbs do not vary as to whether they can be used with implicit arguments or not, but they vary as to the manner in which they can occur with such arguments. In other words, they vary in terms of the lexical and grammatical constraints which are placed on them, and in what contexts they can be used with lexically unrealised arguments. Although the cognitive principle of relevance guides the licensing and interpretation processes of implicit arguments, the variety of their occurrences does not rest solely on the presumption of relevance but on the different lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic properties of Hungarian and its use, as well as on their various interactions. So, it is only by operating together that a grammar and an adequate pragmatic theory can account for the occurrences and identification mechanisms of implicit arguments.

Eniko Nemeth T. is Professor in the Department of General Linguistics at the University of Szeged.