On the Hungarian suffix -lak/-lek as in látlak 'I can see you' vs. nézlek 'I am looking at you'
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18349/MagyarNyelv.2020.4.402Keywords:
Hungarian language, morphology, verbal ending, language historyAbstract
The author of this paper tries to find answers for two questions in connection with the Hungarian verbal ending -lak/-lek (lát-lak ‘I can see you’, néz-lek ‘I am looking at you’): (1) Does this ending belong to the definite or the indefinite conjugation? (2) How did this complex ending come into being? The answer to the first question is that such verb forms, considering their functions, refer to definite objects, though their personal ending -k referring to the subject directly links them to the indefinite conjugation. The author takes verb forms in -lak/-lek to be associated with the direct object by the element -l-, and morphologically and hence functionally referring to a definite object – but not expressis verbis formed as part of the definite conjugation but rather to be a particular and unique phenomenon. The most authentic answer for the second question was in fact born already more than 100 years ago, which was debated by some people from time to time: the -lak/-lek ending has developed from the first person singular of frequentative (and denominal) verbs with an -l suffix by means of metanalysis. In the -lak/-lek ending two suffixes were associated: the -l verbal ending of 2sg and the -l frequentative (and denominal) suffix which are homophonic with each other, therefore they became one portmanteau morpheme of the 2sg object and of the 1sg subject.
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