On the use of the Hungarian quasi-copula áll ‘to stand’
B. Oszkó Eötvös Loránd University, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest, Hungary, oszko.beatrix@nytud.elte.hu
M. Sipos Eötvös Loránd University, Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Budapest, Hungary, sipos.maria@nytud.elte.hu
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the present paper is part of a series of research on the rules of quasi-copula use in languages related to or neighbouring Hungarian. The aim of the studies is to better understand the cognitive, typological, contact linguistic, etymological etc. factors that determine the semantic behaviour of the quasi-copula concerned.
Objective: to describe the use of the Hungarian quasi-copula ʻto stand’ in relatively great detail.
Research materials: the corpus of the study consists of sentences localising inanimate subjects, extracted from the Hungarian National Corpus 2, and those found via targeted Google searches.
Results and novelty of the research: it can be observed that in Hungarian, the visual similarity to the standing human posture, as well as the position that enables the object to perform its function equally trigger the use of the quasi-copula ʻto stand’. Similarly to other languages, the quasi-copula also has a perceptual usage. It can also be shown to be used contrastively, i.e. to describe past situations as opposed to the present. On the basis of the present corpus, it is difficult to know how Hungarian speakers choose between the quasi-copulas ʻto stand’ or ʻto lie’ for symmetrical objects, i.e. objects
without marked dimension. Based on the available data, it is likely that, in such sentences, the properties of the Ground may also play a role, and that the neutral copula can also appear.
Key words: locative, quasi-copula, Figure and Ground, geotopograhic use, perceptual use, Hungarian
Acknowledgments: we are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable remarks on our text, as well as to Vitaliy Sigilyetov for his help in finalizing the Russian text.
For citation: Oszkó B., Sipos M. On the use of the Hungarian quasi-copula áll ‘to stand’ // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2025; 15 (3/62): 459–469.
