ABSTRACT
In Hungarian, the head noun in a noun phrase can be unpronounced in contexts where its content is recoverable from the preceding discourse (cf. Section 4.4.1. in Chapter 4 and Bánréti 1992, 2007, Lipták 2018). When this happens to the exclusion of a modifier, numeral or (quantificational) determiner in the (extended) noun phrase, we are dealing with noun ellipsis. In the following examples, the part of the noun phrase that is understood to be missing is indicated by __ .
a. Ezt a házat nagyobbra tervezték, mint azt a kettõ_-t.
this.Acc the house.Acc big.Comp.Sub design.Past.3Pl than that.Acc the two -Acc
‘This house was designed to be bigger than those two.’
Ez a régi kis ház nagyobb, mint az az új nagy_.
this the old small house big.Comp than that the new big
‘This old small house is bigger than that new big one.’
A hideg sor finomabb, mint a meleg_.
the cold beer tasty.Comp than the warm
‘Cold beer is tastier than warm beer.’
A régi ház eltakarta az új_-ak-at.
the old house conceal.Past.3Sg the new -Pl-Acc
‘The old house concealed the new ones.’
Levi kért egy pár ceruzát. Adtam neki néhány_-at.
Levi ask.Past.3Sg a couple pencil.Acc gave.1Sg 3Sg.Dat some -Acc
‘Levi asked for some pencils. I gave him some.’
A: Ehhez a filmhez magas férfiakat keresnek.
this.All the film.All tall man.Pl.Acc search.Pl
‘They are looking for tall men for this film.’
B: Milyen magas_-akat?
how tall -Pl.Acc
‘How tall?’
