Hungarian Questions in Focus

Hungarian represents an interesting case-study language with respect to a Lexical Functional Grammar typology of constituent ('wh') questions. This language employs two distinct constituent question formation strategies: multiple 'fronting' to a preverbal focus position and the 'wh'-expletive ('partial movement') construction. An analysis of both is provided which takes into account the roles of prosodic and syntactic focusing in Hungarian constituent question formation. Constituent question formation strategies exploit different means involving distinct structural levels to achieve the same ends not only in Hungarian but also cross-linguistically. The unified Lexical Functional Grammar analysis outlined captures the appropriate generalizations for the traditional tripartite classification of 'wh'-in-situ, simple- and multiple-fronting constituent questions. It also lays the foundations for the development of a typologically informed, formally explicit, non-derivational framework for the expression of all constituent question formation strategies.