The Function of the Singular Form of Nouns in the ­Hungarian Language
The Function of the Singular Form of Nouns in the ­Hungarian Language

Summary/Abstract: The analysis and interpretation of grammatical number seems to be a very complex task, due to the diversity of tools to express it in various languages. The category of grammatical number exists in most languages. As far as the ­marking of number is concerned, nouns — traditionally — could be classified as count and uncount nouns. Differences in the quantity and function of uncount nouns in different languages could be explained by the speakers’ distinct approaches and conceptualizations reflected in word-formation processes and in everyday language use. Because of the differences in (uniform or less uniform) conceptualization we cannot predict whether the noun denoting a particular entity is countable or not. In the Hungarian language (as well as in other Uralic languages) nouns are used in the singular quite often where a plural form can be observed in most Indo-European languages. The meaning of this (unmarked) singular in Hungarian can be plural, too, e.g. the form könyv ’book’, paradicsom ’tomato’, alma ’apple’ can refer to any number of books, tomatoes, apples, so the number is neutral. Unlike the unmarked singular, the marked form always denotes the plural: the forms könyvek ’books’, paradicsomok ’tomatoes’ always refer to the plural. In Uralistics, this function is often called numerus absolutus (or numerus ­indefinitus), which does not denote number or explicit quantity. As it does not even refer to a concrete individual (token) or a type it is more appropriate to interpret it as a function. In Hungarian the use of the singular form in the sense of numerus absolutus can be considered in numerous cases. The aim of this paper is to collect singular forms in the function of numerus absolutus on the one hand, and to interpret and define singulare tantum in Hungarian on the other.

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