ABSTRACT
Largest Uralic language with about 14 million speakers; official language of Hungary. Hungarian has lost many of its Uralic characteristics due to long contact with other unrelated languages. First written documents date from the thirteenth century. Heavy lexical borrowing from numerous Turkic and European languages. ( Finno-Ugric)
Characteristics: free syntax, pragmatically oriented word order with a special position for focused constituents (before the finite verb). The verb agrees with the subject in person and number; in addition, the so-called object agreement-the relationship between the person of the subject and the person of the object-is marked. A rich system of verb prefixes serves to mark aspect. Complex case system, including ten spatial cases with oppositions such as at rest-moving, approaching-receding, inside-outside.
