Quantifiers, negation, and focus on the left periphery in Hungarian

This paper is concerned with a construction in which multiple foci are found in front of the inflected verb, contrary to the accepted view on focussing in Hungarian, which allows for only one constituent there. Since earlier proposals for multiple wh-question constructions or multiple (postverbal) foci cannot be extended to cover the new cases, a new analysis is put forward based upon the assumption that Neg does not attract Tense and that wh-phrases must be licensed by Comp. The phenomenon of negative concord is invoked to provide independent evidence for the analyses presented. The interaction of negated universal quantifiers with negative concord quantifiers and focus is also examined in order to argue for the checking mechanisms at work in this language.

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