El + verb complex predicates in Hungarian

Abstract

This paper investigates the structure of complex predicates comprising the verbal particle el- (`away') and a verb in Hungarian. I show that el- has different meaning contributions to the predication when combined with different types of verbs. I argue that despite the three seemingly unrelated meanings of el-, two uses involve the same lexical item. In these unifiable cases I analyze el- as a measure function that can measure in both the spatial and the temporal domains.