Applicative constructions (Hungarian)

NoAppl: The language does not have applicative constructions.



(1) a kutya sétál.

the dog walk-prs.3sg

‘The dog is walking.’


(2) a fiú sétál-tat-ja a kutyá-t.

the boy walk-caus-prs.obj.3sg the dog-acc

‘The boy is walking the dog.’


(3) a fiú meg-ír-ja a leckét.

the boy pref-write-prs.obj.3sg the homework-acc

‘The boy is writing the homework.’


(4) a tanár meg-ír-at-ja a lecké-t a fiú-val.

the teacher pref-write-caus-prs.obj.3sg the homework-acc the boy-ins

‘The teacher makes the boy write the homework.’


In Hungarian, it is only the causative construction (1–2), (3–4) that has a verbal suffix marking a transitivity extending operation. Hovewer, this construction can not be considered an applicative one because applicatives only denote the increase in number of the verbal arguments, but they do not refer to the function, nor the form of the additional argument. The Hungarian causative suffix both refers to the case form of the additional argument and denotes that the original Agent becomes an Actor of the event.

Author: 

Ferenc Havas