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Part of
Broader Perspectives on Motion Event Descriptions
Edited by Yo Matsumoto and Kazuhiro Kawachi
[Human Cognitive Processing 69] 2020
► pp. 41–62

Chapter 2
Patterns of deictic expressions in Hungarian motion event descriptions

| University of Miyazaki

This chapter aims to examine how deictic notions (Deixis) are expressed in Hungarian motion event descriptions. Hungarian is one of the languages in which Path is expressed in satellites and other “head-external elements” (Matsumoto 2017) (i.e. elements outside the main verb root). However, this does not apply to Deixis, although it is often regarded as a component of Path (Talmy 2000). Deixis in Hungarian is expressed in interesting ways, differently from Talmy’s non-deictic Path notions (e.g. UP, INTO). It can be expressed in the main verb root, where Manner can also be expressed, or outside the main verb root, where Path can be expressed. In addition, different deictic elements can co-occur, and a (seemingly) identical notion can be specified in more than one slot in the same clause. The present chapter discusses the kinds of constraints that are placed on the use of each type of deictic expression, and investigates the circumstances under which expressions are chosen for use in descriptions of self-motion, caused motion, and the fictive motion of vision.

Keywords: competition, co-occurrence, deixis, head-external
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Basic facts of Hungarian and its motion event descriptions
    • 2.1Morpho-syntactic characteristics of Hungarian
    • 2.2Elements relevant to motion event descriptions
  • 3.Semantic/pragmatic properties of each deictic expression
    • 3.1Aspectual properties: Preverb and adverb
    • 3.2The speaker’s domain: Verb vs. others
  • 4.Competition between Deixis and Manner/Path
    • 4.1Self-motion
      • 4.1.1Path and the preverb
      • 4.1.2Manner/Deixis and the verb
    • 4.2Caused motion
    • 4.3Fictive motion of vision
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.69.02egu
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