Abstract
The paper addresses the question of how and to what extent syntax, prosody, communicative and logical functions are related. It is assumed that prosody plays a more general role in indicating scope relations than surface configuration.
The basic assumptions of a metrical syntax of Hungarian are outlined according to which only those sentences are grammatical which are assigned a proper prosodic structure. The prosodic rules are based on rules of stress reduction between adjacent prosodic components. It is shown that stress reduction does not automatically follow rhythmic rules, it is rather constrained by a hierarchy of categories available for reduction.
The relation of important communicative functions of a sentence to its prosody, such as topicalization and focusing, including multiple foci is discussed demonstrating that the prosody of a sentence is both determined by its logical and communicative functions.
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Hunyadi, L. The Outlines of a Metrical Syntax of Hungarian. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 46, 69–93 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009677808603
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009677808603