Argument structure and functional projections in Old Hungarian verbal gerunds

Abstract

This paper seeks to give a syntactic analysis of Old Hungarian verbal gerunds. I take the “mixed projection” approach to nominalizations (Bresnan 1997; Borsley & Kornfilt 2000; Alexiadou 2001, among others), whereby the extended vP is embedded under nominal functional categories. I argue that in the verbal part of the gerund there is solid evidence for AspP/PredP dominating VoiceP, but there is no conclusive evidence for a TP being projected. I suggest that the object of the gerundival verb may undergo scrambling to a position above negation, while the subject becomes a derived possessor on the surface. I propose that these gerunds do not contain a nominalizer (see Alexiadou 2005; Alexiadou et al. 2010b; 2011 for this possibility); the extended vP is embedded directly under the nominal functional head Poss.