Reported clause markers (Hungarian)

RepdWV1: Reportativity is marked by the use of a referent that appears in the reporting clause.

RepdWV2: Reportativity is marked by the use of a conjunction that appears in the reported clause.


(1) juli az-t mond-t-a: „ma mozi-ba megy-ek.”

Juli det-acc say-pst-obj.3sg today cinema-ill go-1sg

‘Juli said “I’m going to the cinema today”.’


(2) juli az-t mond-t-a, ma mozi-ba megy.

Juli det-acc say-pst-obj.3sg today cinema-ill go.3sg

‘Juli said she was going to the cinema that day.’


(3) juli az-t mond-t-a, hogy ma mozi-ba megy.

Juli det-acc say-pst-obj.3sg that today cinema-ill go.3sg

‘Juli said she was going to the cinema that day.’


In Hungarian, it is possible to cite an utterance in a direct (1) and in an indirect (2), (3) way. In the case of indirect citation, a connective element appears in the main clause and a conjunction can appear in the subordinate clause, which specifies the cited utterance (cf. Kenesei et al. 1998: 30‒31, É. Kiss 2002: 232‒233, Haader 2000a 487‒489).


Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás