The Epistemic/Deontic Suffix -Hat/Het in Hungarian: Derivational or Inflectional?

Abstract

In virtually all grammatical accounts of Hungarian, the suffix hat/het (e.g. tanul-hat ‘can learn (from)’, es-het ‘may fall’) is categorized as derivational. In an innovative article, Kenesei (1996) reexamines this conventional wisdom, and argues that based on the morpho-syntax of the language -hat/het should be considered an inflectional suffix. In this work I claim that morpho-phonological evidence suggests otherwise, and offer a reconciliation between the dual patterning of -hat/het: one based on morpho-syntax, the other based on morpho-phonology.