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PURE-RELATIONALSUFFIXES AND POSTPOSITIONSIN
HUNGARIAN
PAULL. GARvns
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
[The paper delimits the group of pure-relational suffixes by removing some mor-
phemes that have hitherto generally been included in this group. An important
morphological criterion of these suffixes, the oblique stem, is examined, and as
a result of this examination pure-relational suffixes are divided into two classes:
case suffixes and suffixed postpositions, the latter forming the transition from the
case suffixes to the free postpositions.]
1. Substantival suffixesin Hungariancan be grouped into two classes, de-
pending on the distributionof the composedforms consistingof a stem and the
given suffix.' The first group of suffixesis formed by those whose composed
forms can be replacedin an utterance not only by anothercomposedform,but
also by a singlemorpheme. Thus, the form/pelvees/ 'linguist',consistingof the
stem /pelv/ 'language' and the suffix/alees/ can be replacedin an utterance by
another composedform /vadaas/ 'hunter',consistingof the stem /vad/ 'game'
and the same suffix, by a composedform /utag/ 'traveller',consisting of the
stem /ut/ 'road, trip', and another suffix /aIote/o!/, or by a single morpheme
/ember/ 'man,person',e.g. /eza pelvees najonoko'/ 'this linguistis very clever';
/eza vadaas najon okog/ 'this hunter is very clever'; /ezaz utag najon okoA/
'this travelleris very clever';/ezaz embernajon okog/ 'this man is very clever'.
The secondgroupof suffixesis formedby those whose composedform cannot
be replacedin an utteranceby a single morpheme. Thus, the form /emberek/
'men, persons', consisting of the stem /ember/ and the plural suffix /k/, can
only be replacedin an utteranceby another composedform such as /assopiok/
or /Jerekek/, e.g. /az emberekott voltak/ 'the men were there'; /az assopjok
ott voltak/ 'the women were there'; /a Jerekekott voltak/ 'the childrenwere
there'. A composedform of this type can also be replacedby one containing
anothersuffix. Thus, the form /haazbool/ 'from (inside)the house', consisting
of the stem /haaz/ and the pure-relationalsuffix /b~'i0l/, can be replacedby a
form containing the same suffix /kertb00l/, or by a form containinganother
suffix/uccaarool/, wherethe suffixis /roo/al/, e.g. /a haazbooljett/ 'he camefrom
x A similar grouping is proposed by
Thomas A. Sebeok, Finnish and Hungarian Case
Systems: Their Form and Function (unpublished ms.), where he says: 'Following one of de
Saussure's most fruitful constructs, ... suffixes which are added to substantives may be
simul-
grouped into two major classes. Those suffixes which function only on the axis of
as
taneities form one group: such a suffix, for example, -x2 -s in a word like Pelvees "linguist",
irrespective of its function in an utterance, signifies its relation to the wordnyelv"language",
which coexists in the same system. Suffixes of the other group, however, function both on
the axis of simultaneities and the axis of successivities: such a suffix as -xok,in a word like
emberek"men", signifies, for one thing, its relation to the word ember"man", which coexists
in the same system, and, in the second place (as in the sentence emberekkyldenek "men
send"), signifies plurality marked also by agreement in the verb (in opposition to kyld
"sends").' This and other points of the present paper were discussed extensively with
this
Sebeok, whose above-named monograph, in its Hungarian part, is of great interest to
discussion.
250
SUFFIXES AND POSTPOSITIONS IN HUNGARIAN 251
the house'; /a kertb00l jott/ 'he came from the garden'; /az uccaarool jCtt/ 'he
came from the street'.
Sebeok2 calls the first group of suffixes derivational suffixes, and the second
group paradigmatic suffixes.
2. Pure-relational suffixes3 belong to the group of paradigmatic suffixes, be-
cause composed forms containing a pure-relational suffix can be replaced in an
utterance only by other composed forms.
Lack of a clear-cut structural definition may have been the cause for the in-
clusion among pure-relational suffixes of morphemes which, in the light of what
has been said, cannot be considered paradigmatic suffixes. Such morphemes
are found in both Lotz's4 and Hall's5 lists of pure-relational suffixes, although
Hall is more careful in his classification.
Sebeok' has shown that Lotz's suffix N 15, the temporal /kor/, is a free mor-
pheme (the noun /kor/ 'age, period') added to the preceding stem to form
a compound. Lotz's ~22, the formal /keent/, resp. /keep/ or /keepen/,
can be analyzed the same way as /kor/. /keep/ is a noun, and /keepen/ a
noun with superessive suffix, meaning 'picture, mode, manner'; each may form
a compound with the preceding stem. /keent/ would then be a morpheme
alternant of /keep/ in compounding position. Sebeok7 calls Lotz's ? 16, the
temporal iterative /nta/e/, a formative (denominative, distributive-repetitive)
suffix, classing this suffix as derivational rather than paradigmatic. In the utter-
ance, a composed form containing the temporal iterative suffix can be re-
placed by a single morpheme, which confirms the classification as derivational:
/havonta haaromsor mejek moziba/ 'I go to the movies three times a month';
/maama haaromsor mejek moziba/ 'I'm going to the movies three times today'.
Lotz's N23, the distributive /nkeent/, occurs in complementary distribution
with the just mentioned temporal iterative, and is therefore its morpheme
alternant, hence also a derivational suffix: /havonta/ 'per month', /heten-
keent/ 'per week'. Lotz's # 21, the essive /u/yl/, is not a pure-relational suffix
but an adverb-forming suffix which mainly occurs with adjectives. Lotz's
2Vowel Morphophonemics of Hungarian Suffixes, SIL 2.47-50 (1943).
3 Cf. Edward Sapir, Language 107 (New York, 1921).
4JAnos Lotz, Das ungarische Sprachsystem 63, 66 (Stockholm, 1939). Lotz lists 24
suffixes under the heading Kasussuffixe in the following order, corresponding to an approxi-
mative semantic classification: 1. nominative 0, 2. accusative /t/, 3. inessive /balen/, 4.
elative /boo/l1/, 5. illative /bale/, 6. superessive /n/, 7. delative /rooi*lP1/, 8. sublative
/ra/e/; 9. adessive /na/eetB/, 10. ablative /tool901/, 11. allative 12. locative /tt/, 13.
/hole/*z/,
terminative /ig/, 14. dative /na/ek/, 15. temporal /kor/, 16. temporal iterative /ntale/; 17.
causal-final /eert/, 18. instrumental /valel/ or final consonant repeated + /a/el/, 19. factive
/vaalee/ or final consonant repeated + /aa/ee/, 20. sociative /gtu/yl/, 21. essive /uI/l/, 22. for-
mal: (1) /keent/, (2) /keep/ or /keepen/, 23. distributive /nkeent/, 24. modality /laleg/.
5 Robert A. Hall
Jr., Hungarian Grammar 32-33 (Baltimore, 1944). Hall groups the
suffixes in 2 main classes: those requiring an auxiliary vowel (/n/, /t/ or /tt/, /nkeent/
and those not requiring an auxiliary vowel. The latter are divided by the stem
/ntal•/),
vowel morphophonemecontained: those containing x1 (a. /ig/, b. /eert/), those containing
X2(a. /lyl/; b. /bool0l1/, /rooli1/, /tool/l/; c. /naaliel/, /vaaleel; d. /balel,
/nlek/, /ra/e/, /valel/), and one containing x3 (/holel*z/). /bal•n/, /laleg/,
I Loc.cit., footnote 2.
7 Op.cit.
252 PAUL L. GARVIN
example /kiraajul/8 'in a royal way, royally' patterns with /neemetyl/ 'in
German', which Lotz9 calls an essive case form. Lotz's view, however, seems
rather far-fetched, since in the same place he considers the suffixes /aIen/ and
/la/eg/, which are obviously in complementary distribution with /U/yl/ and
have the same adverbial function, separate case suffixes and calls them
modal and modality. It seems, however, difficult to establish any but dis-
tributional differences between the functions of these three suffixes in such
cases as /neemetyl/ 'in German', /baatran/ 'bravely' and /matematikailag/
'mathematically': they are added to various stems, but the resulting compound
forms are mutually substitutable, and can also be replaced by a single mor-
pheme, which classes these suffixes as derivational, e.g. /neemetyl is lehet mon-
dani/ 'it can be said in German, too'; /baatran is lehet mondani/ 'it can be said
bravely, too'; /matematikailag iAlehet mondani/ 'it can be said mathematically,
too'; /i4 is lehet mondani/ 'it can be said this way, too'.
What has been said above eliminates, of course, Lotz's ~ 24, the modality
suffix /la/eg/, from among the paradigmatic suffixes.
His ? 20, the sociative /AtuIYl/ is a compound derivational suffix, consisting
of the adjective-forming suffix /a/oie/o/ and /tuI/l/, which is a morpheme alter-
nant of /uI/l/ after /aio/e/I0/. Thus, /6alaado'tul/ 'together with one's family'
can be analyzed as /6alaadog/ 'having a family' plus a morpheme alternant
/tulyl/ of the adverbial suffix /u/Yl/.
Finally, Lotz's S 12, the locative /tt/, is a morpheme alternant of the superes-
sive suffix /n/ and the inessive suffix /ba/en/, whenever they are in complementary
distribution, and is in free variation with either, being the less preferred variant,
after a few stems denoting the names of certain cities, such as /pee6/ 'Pcs',
/100r/ 'Gy6r' and others: /pee6en/ ~ /peedett/ 'in PNcs', /j00rben/ ~ /jg00rtt/
'in Gyor'.
Of Lotz's suffixes, therefore, only the following may be considered pure-rela-
tional: S 1 nominative 0, ~2 accusative /t/, #3 inessive 4 elative
/bairn/,
/boo/0l/, S 5 illative /bale/, S 6 superessive /n/, S 7 delative /roo/00/, S 8 subla-
tive /rale/, S~9 adessive /na/eel/, 10 ablative /too/1l/, 11 allative
/ho•e/0z/,
S 13 terminative /ig/, S 14 dative /nalek/, S 17 causal-final /eert/, N 18 instru-
mental /vlel/, and S 19 factive /v/ee/.
3. A clue to the morphological analysis of these suffixes is given by Hall's
statement that 'the place of the combination pure-relational suffix or postposi-
tion + personal pronoun is taken by a special form of the suffix or postposition
(for which, in the case of the suffixes, a special "oblique" stem-form is used).
This special form is made up of oblique suffix-stem or postposition + personal
possessive endings."'1 Hall correctly notices that the oblique-stem forms of some
of these pure-relational suffixes pattern similarly to postpositions, inasmuch as
personal possessive endings can be added to them. In his classification of suf-
fixes, however, Hall mentions this fact only casually by quoting the oblique stem
after each suffix, or mentioning that a given suffix has no oblique stem."1
8 This suffix occurs after noun stems only very rarely, mainly in bookish and archaic
style.
9 Loc.cit. 91.
10 Loc.cit. 32.
11Ibid. 32-3. Lotz, incidentally, considers the special forms consisting of oblique
SUFFIXES AND POSTPOSITIONSIN HUNGARIAN 253
suffix stem or postposition + personal possessive endings case forms of the personal pro-
nouns, and their morphological nature is only hinted at in a note saying: 'Die obigen For-
men zeigen Xhnlichkeit mit den Kasussuffixen und den Adverbien, die
mit Possessivsuffixen versehen werden' (loc.cit. 106-7). unselbststa•ndingen
12 The
long vowel in these forms can also be analyzed as the final short vowel of the
oblique stem plus an initial short vowel of the personal possessive ending: /bele-em/,
/bele-ed/, etc.
13 Loc.cit.
32.
14 This
even more so, if the oblique stem is considered the basic form.
254 PAUL L. GARVIN