Aims and Background

In the Minimalist framework, properties of syntax beyond those representing general properties of computational efficiency are believed to be derivable from the requirements of external systems accessing syntax. In line with these assumptions, the studies of this volume examine the hypothesis that the structure of the left periphery of the Hungarian sentence – displaying varying orders of the verb, the verbal particle, the focus constituent, the negative particle, and quantifiers, associated with different interpretations and aspectual values – is at least partially motivated by the structure of the event described; that is, event type correlates with word order, with the presence or absence of the verbal particle, with the presence or absence of an internal argument, with its [+/−specific] feature, with the aspectual interpretation of the sentence, with the interpretation of focus, and with the interpretation of pronouns participating in negative concord, among others.