Syncretism in the person-hierarchy sensitive Hungarian conjugation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2026.3.269Keywords:
object agreement, person-hierarchy sensitivity, inverse context, syncretism *ABA-effect, camouflage construction, imposterAbstract
Hungarian object agreement exhibits data patterns on both sides – the verbal side and the nominal side – of the agreement relation that have been characterized in the literature as puzzling phenomena. Initial steps toward their explanation have been taken within the framework of an inverse theory (Bárány 2017). With the development of the avatar theory, introduced in Magyar Nyelv, a first attempt has also been made to provide a unified account of both sides of the agreement relation (Alberti – Feltizi-Veress Saypasheva – Farkas 2025a). In the present paper, we situate this approach within the broader context of an universal grammatical theory of syncretism that investigates homophonous forms in paradigmatic systems. We demonstrate that the avatar theory offers a solution to the *ABA-restriction – a central problem in the field (Bobaljik–Sauerland 2018) – for which the inverse theory in itself has not yet provided an account. This success is due precisely to the aspect in which the avatar theory innovates upon the inverse theory: namely, its derivation of the person‑hierarchy sensitivity of Hungarian grammar from the peculiar, possessive‑like internal structure of first‑ and second‑person object pronouns (e.g. en‑g‑em ‘me’, benn‑ünk‑et ‘us’). On this view, as a consequence of their “disguised structure,” these forms effectively function within the Hungarian morphological system as pronouns akin to someone-type indefinites (cf. leönt engem/ bennünket/valakit ‘pours something over me/us/someone’)
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