Linguistic Society of America

Pure-Relational Suffixes and Postpositions in Hungarian

Author(s): Paul L. Garvin
Source: Language, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1945), pp. 250-255
Published by: Linguistic Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/409692
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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

4. The occurrence of this oblique-stem form with pure-relational suffixes will

be used as a criterion for their classification. In the following, these suffixes
(excluding the nominative zero suffix) will be quoted in Lotz's order and their
oblique-stem forms will be stated and analyzed.
ACCUSATIVE /t/. This suffix has no oblique stem. Accusative forms of the
personal pronoun are formed for the pronoun of the third person, by adding the
suffix /t/ to the stem in the singular: /00t/, or with reduplicated suffix /00tet/,
and by adding the plural suffix /k/ and the suffix /t/ to the stem in the plural:
/00ket/; for the pronouns of the first and second persons plural, by adding the
suffix /t/ to a special morpheme alternant: /minket/, /bennynket/ for the first
person, /titeket/, /benneteket/ for the second person; for the pronouns of the
first and second person singular by a special case form of the personal pronoun,
to which the accusative suffix may be added: /engem/, /engemet/ for the first
person, /teeged/, /teegedet/ for the second. All these alternant forms are in
free variation.
INESSIVE/ba/en/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /benn/, which differs
from the front allomorph of the suffix (the alternant with a front vowel) only by
the reduplication of the final consonant. Personal possessive endings are added
to this oblique stem as follows: /bennem/ 'in me', /benned/ 'in you', etc.
ELATIVE/boo/001/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /bel0l/, which is a re-
duplicated form of the front allomorph of this suffix. Personal possessive end-
ings are added as follows: /bel00lem/ 'from (within) me', /bel00led/ 'from
(within) you', etc.
ILLATIVE /bale/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /belee/, which is a redu-
plicated form of the front allomorph of this suffix with lengthened final vowel.
Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /beleem/ 'into me', /beleed/
'into you', etc.'2
SUPERESSIVE /n/. Ha1l13 gives as its oblique (suppletive) stem /rajt/.
Since there is no formal similarity between /n/ and /rajt/, it is better to state
that /n/ has no oblique stem, and that /rajt/ occurs in most of those positions
where such an oblique stem can be expected to occur.
A formal similarity exists, however, between the suppletive form /rajt/ and
the suffixes /rool/l/ and /ra/e/. The analogy with the preceding set /ba/"n/,
/boo/01/, /bale/ shows that in both cases there is the same initial consonant in all
three suffixes so grouped, and that the vowels in the first and third suffix are the
same (or similar:/ale/ resp. /a/, and /ale/). Viewed from this standpoint,the
suffix /n/ itself, rather than the oblique stem /r,tjt/, would be suppletive.14
Another morphological property of the superessive to be noted in this con-
nection is the fact that the superessive is the only pure-relational suffix which

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

regularly occurs before certain postpositions, such as /tul/, /aat/, /kivyl/:

/tengeren tul/ 'across the sea, overseas'; /a fojoon aat/ 'across the river'; /ezen
kivyl/ 'aside from this, except for this'. Of these postpositions, only /kivyl/
occurs after the oblique-stem superessive with personal endings, and these forms
(/rajtam kivyl/ 'aside from me, except for me') alternate with special forms in
which the postposition /kivyl/ has personal endings and no superessive occurs
next to it (/kivylem/ 'aside from me, except for me'). This distributional dif-
ference between the superessive suffix /n/ and the oblique-stem superessive
/rajt/ underlines the distinction made between the two forms on other grounds.
DELATIVE iroo001/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /rool/, which is
its back
allomorph (the alternant with a back vowel). Personal possessive endings are
added as follows: /roolam/ '(down) from me, about me', /roolad/ '(down) from
you, about you', etc.
SUBLATIVE ra/el/. The obliquestem of this suffix is /raa/, which is the back
allomorph of the suffix with lengthened vowel. Personal possessive endings are
as follows: /raam/ '(towards) upon me', /raad/ '(towards) upon you', etc.15
ADESSIVE /naaeel/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /naal/, which is its
back allomorph. Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /naalam/
'next to me', /naalad/ 'next to you', etc.
ABLATIVE /too/l/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /t001/, which is its front
allomorph. Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /t0plem/ 'from
(next to) me', /to0led/ 'from (next to) you', etc.
ALLATIVE /hoie/ z/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /hozzaa/, which is the
back allomorph with reduplicated final consonant and following long /aa/.
Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /hozzaam/ 'to (next to) me',
/hozzaad/ 'to (next to) you', etc.-
TERMINATIVE /ig/. This suffix has no oblique stem. Another morphological
property of the terminative has to be noted here. It is the fact that the termina-
tive can be added to oblique stems of other suffixes (and postpositions) + per-
sonal possessive endings: /hozzaamig/ 'until (next to) me, up to me', /mellee-
mig/ 'until at my side, up to my side', etc.
DATIVE /nalek/. The oblique stem of this suffix is /nek/, which is its front
allomorph. Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /nekem/ 'to me',
/neked/ 'to you', etc.
CAUSAL-FINAL/eert/. The oblique stem of this suffix is also /eert/. Per-
sonal possessive endings are added as follows: /eertem/ 'for me, for my sake',
/eerted/ 'for you, for your sake', etc.
INSTRUMENTAL /Valel/.17 The oblique stem of this suffixis /vel/, whichis its
front allomorph. Personal possessive endings are added as follows: /velem/
'with me', /veled/ 'with you', etc.
etc. cf. footnote 10.
1sThese forms can also be analyzed as Ira-am/, ira-ad/,
These forms can also be analyzed as /hozza-am/, /hozza-ad/, etc. cf. footnote 10.
16
17Sebeok calls this suffix comitative. The initial consonant /v/ of this suffix, and of the
following suffix /vaaie*/, occurs only with vowel-final stems. With consonant-final stems,
the /v/ is replaced by a consonant equal to the final consonant of the preceding stem.
 SUFFIXES AND POSTPOSITIONSIN HUNGARIAN 255

FACTrVE/vaa/ee/.18 This suffix has no oblique stem.

5. On the basis of the foregoing analysis, two groups of pure-relational suf-
fixes can be established: those that have no oblique stems, and those that have
one. In the first group would be classed the accusative /t/, the superessive
/n/, the terminative /ig/, and the factive /va/ee/. In the second group would
be classed all the other suffixes. Two of the suffixes of the first group, the
superessive and the terminative, aside from lacking an oblique stem, present
another common feature: they both occur together with postpositions. This
feature seems to separate the two suffixes in question even further from the
suffixes of the second group. The suffixes of the second group present a very
important feature in common with the postpositions, as has been pointed out by
Hall and quoted above :" they both take personal possessive endings, the suffixes
with the help of oblique stems. It is therefore proposed to call this group of
suffixeS SUFFIXED POSTPOSITIONS.
Following a suggestion of Hall's,20 the oblique-stem form, rather than the
suffixed form, may be considered the basic form of a given suffixed postposition.
When this basic form is suffixed to a given substantival stem, it falls into the
contour of the stem and undergoes the vocalic alternations consistent with the
vowel harmony pattern of the suffixed postposition. The vowel harmony pat-
tern can be covered by a blanket statement such as has been made by Sebeok21
and by Hall in his Hungarian Grammar.22 However, other differences between
the suffixed and the oblique-stem forms, such as lengthening or reduplication,
would still have to be mentioned in separate statements.
Only the suffixes of the first group, together with the nominative zero suffix,
would be CASESUFFIXES in this treatment; and the Hungarian case system would
have only 5 cases: nominative, accusative, superessive, terminative, and factive.
6. In conclusion, it can be said that this analysis results in three pure-rela-
tional categories in Hungarian: case suffixes, suffixed postpositions, and free
postpositions. The former two classes can be grouped together as pure-rela-
tional suffixes, to preserve both Hall's (originally Sapir's) term and class. The
close connection between the two classes of pure-relational suffixes and the class
of postpositions was already hinted at by Hall23when he grouped pure-relational
suffixes with postpositions because of certain characteristics (primarily their
use as separate words when provided with personal possessive suffixes), which
they share with the [latter]'. This contribution tends to clarify that connection
by showing that instead of two partially related classes, there are actually three,
one of which (the suffixed postpositions) forms a transition between the other
two (case suffixes, postpositions).
1s Sebeok calls this suffix translative. Regarding the initial /v/, cf. footnote 15.
19See footnote 11.
20Personal communication.
21See footnote 2.
22Loc.cit. 19.
"ILoc.cit. 32.