Rethinking word order constraints in the Hungarian preverbal field: A compset based approach

Flóra Lili Donáti

This talk proposes a complement set based approach for word order constraints in the Hungarian preverbal field, more specifically in the Quantifier and Focus positions. The expressions this talk focuses on are quantified DPs and DPs headed by focus particles. I will argue that the distribution of these expressions can be explained by the entailments they make about a relevant complement set, namely (i) the expressions that entail that the complement set is empty must appear in the Quantifier position; (ii) those that entail that the relevant complement set is not empty obligatorily appear in the immediately preverbal Focus position; and finally (iii) those that have no such entailment can appear in either position.