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Chapter 4. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend.’

Similarities motivated by contrasts in Hungarian sentence structure
  • András Imrényi
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Analogy and Contrast in Language
This chapter is in the book Analogy and Contrast in Language

Abstract

In Hungarian generative grammar, the terms topic and focus designate structural positions associated with logico-semantic functions. The present chapter highlights the fact that elements sharing the behaviour of “topics” and “foci” are highly varied, and that logico-semantic definitions only capture prioritized subsets of the relevant data. I argue that preverbal, inversion-triggering elements (“foci” and the negative particle) are overriders, with their semantic commonality depending on relationships of contrast vis-à-vis a baseline clause type, that of neutral positive declarative clauses. With regard to sentence-initial, weakly stressed expressions (“topics” and “sentence adverbials”), I propose that they are contextualizers, generating supporting context for the processing of a message. Here, the baseline can be identified as the situation where no explicit contextualization is necessary. The possibility for two patterns to be similar indirectly, by virtue of standing in contrast with a third one, will be referred to as the ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ principle of linguistic organization.

Abstract

In Hungarian generative grammar, the terms topic and focus designate structural positions associated with logico-semantic functions. The present chapter highlights the fact that elements sharing the behaviour of “topics” and “foci” are highly varied, and that logico-semantic definitions only capture prioritized subsets of the relevant data. I argue that preverbal, inversion-triggering elements (“foci” and the negative particle) are overriders, with their semantic commonality depending on relationships of contrast vis-à-vis a baseline clause type, that of neutral positive declarative clauses. With regard to sentence-initial, weakly stressed expressions (“topics” and “sentence adverbials”), I propose that they are contextualizers, generating supporting context for the processing of a message. Here, the baseline can be identified as the situation where no explicit contextualization is necessary. The possibility for two patterns to be similar indirectly, by virtue of standing in contrast with a third one, will be referred to as the ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ principle of linguistic organization.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Editors and contributors ix
  4. Foreword xi
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. From theory to data-driven research
  7. Chapter 1. What could be more fundamental? 15
  8. Chapter 2. Diagrammatic iconicity and rendering time in a narrative text 47
  9. Chapter 3. Analogy in action 61
  10. Chapter 4. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend.’ 83
  11. Chapter 5. Contrast and analogy in aspectual distinctions of English and Polish 115
  12. Part II. From data-driven research to theory
  13. Chapter 6. From nouns to verbs 159
  14. Chapter 7. Complex prepositions of analogy and contrast in English 193
  15. Chapter 8. Emergent categories 245
  16. Chapter 9. A case of constructional contamination in English 283
  17. Chapter 10. Analogy and contrast at the morphology-syntax interface 303
  18. Chapter 11. Modeling constructional variation 341
  19. Chapter 12. Moving reader or moving text? 371
  20. Chapter 13. Contrasts and analogies in cluster categories of emotion concepts in monolingual and cross-linguistic contexts 405
  21. Index 439
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.73.04imr

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Editors and contributors ix
  4. Foreword xi
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. From theory to data-driven research
  7. Chapter 1. What could be more fundamental? 15
  8. Chapter 2. Diagrammatic iconicity and rendering time in a narrative text 47
  9. Chapter 3. Analogy in action 61
  10. Chapter 4. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend.’ 83
  11. Chapter 5. Contrast and analogy in aspectual distinctions of English and Polish 115
  12. Part II. From data-driven research to theory
  13. Chapter 6. From nouns to verbs 159
  14. Chapter 7. Complex prepositions of analogy and contrast in English 193
  15. Chapter 8. Emergent categories 245
  16. Chapter 9. A case of constructional contamination in English 283
  17. Chapter 10. Analogy and contrast at the morphology-syntax interface 303
  18. Chapter 11. Modeling constructional variation 341
  19. Chapter 12. Moving reader or moving text? 371
  20. Chapter 13. Contrasts and analogies in cluster categories of emotion concepts in monolingual and cross-linguistic contexts 405
  21. Index 439
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