@cite{egressy-2026}: Size-Sensitive Sequence of Tense in Hungarian #
@cite{egressy-2026}
Empirical data from @cite{egressy-2026}, who shows that Hungarian is a partial SOT language: the simultaneous reading of past-under-past is available in structurally small complements (TP, without hogy 'that') but blocked in full CP complements (with hogy).
Key Empirical Findings #
CP complements (with hogy): shifted reading only
- Ági tudta, hogy Mari beteg volt. → only "Mari was sick before Ági knew"
Bare TP complements (no hogy): both shifted and simultaneous readings
- Ági tudta Marit betegnek. → ambiguous: shifted or simultaneous
Temporal adverb diagnostics: akkor 'then' forces temporal anchoring and disambiguates complement size effects
Williams Cycle: Hungarian is mid-cycle — CP has become opaque to tense Agree while TP remains transparent
Data Organization #
Theory-neutral empirical judgments, followed by bridge theorems connecting these to @cite{zeijlstra-2012}'s Agree-based SOT theory: fragment grounding, complement-size mapping, per-datum predictions, Williams Cycle classification, and temporal adverb diagnostics.
Hungarian complement types distinguished by structural size.
The key empirical distinction: complements with the overt complementizer hogy 'that' are full CPs; complements without hogy are structurally smaller (TP-sized).
- hogyCP : HungarianComplementType
Full CP with hogy 'that' — opaque to SOT
- bareTP : HungarianComplementType
Bare finite complement without hogy — transparent to SOT
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Whether the complement type includes the complementizer hogy.
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An empirical SOT judgment: a past-under-past sentence with its complement type and available readings.
Each entry records:
- The matrix verb
- The complement type (CP with hogy vs bare TP)
- Whether the simultaneous reading is available
- Whether the shifted reading is available (always true)
- matrixVerb : String
Matrix verb (Hungarian)
- matrixGloss : String
Matrix verb gloss
- complementType : HungarianComplementType
Complement type
- example_ : String
Example sentence
- shiftedGloss : String
English translation (shifted reading)
English translation (simultaneous reading, if available)
- simultaneousAvailable : Bool
Is the simultaneous reading available?
- shiftedAvailable : Bool
Is the shifted reading available? (always true)
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- Phenomena.TenseAspect.Studies.Egressy2026.instBEqSOTJudgment.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false
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CP complements (with hogy): shifted only #
@cite{egressy-2026}, ex. (9): Ági tud-t-a, hogy Mari beteg vol-t. 'Ági know-PST-3SG that Mari sick be-PST' → Shifted only: Mari was sick before Ági's knowing
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@cite{egressy-2026}, ex. (11a): Ági mond-t-a, hogy Mari beteg vol-t. 'Ági say-PST-3SG that Mari sick be-PST' → Shifted only in full CP
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@cite{egressy-2026}, ex. (11b): Ági hit-t-e, hogy Mari beteg vol-t. 'Ági believe-PST-3SG that Mari sick be-PST' → Shifted only in full CP
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Bare TP complements (without hogy): both readings #
@cite{egressy-2026}, ex. (10): Ági tud-t-a Mari-t beteg-nek. 'Ági know-PST-3SG Mari-ACC sick-DAT' → Both readings: shifted and simultaneous
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All SOT judgments from the study.
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CP complement judgments: shifted only.
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Bare TP judgments: both readings.
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All CP complement judgments block the simultaneous reading.
Bare TP judgments allow the simultaneous reading.
All judgments have the shifted reading available.
No CP judgment has the simultaneous reading.
All bare TP judgments have the simultaneous reading.
Prove that the string literals in Data.lean match the Fragment entries. This ensures the data is derived from fragments, not independently stipulated.
tudta in Data.lean is the past definite form of tud.
mondta in Data.lean is the past definite form of mond.
hitte in Data.lean is the past definite form of hisz.
The bare TP tudta also matches the past definite form. (Both CP and bare TP examples use definite conjugation with tud.)
Glosses match fragment glosses.
Map Hungarian complement types to structural complement sizes.
- hogy-CP → full CP (fValue 6, phase-sized, opaque)
- bare TP → TP (fValue 2, sub-phase, transparent)
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- Phenomena.TenseAspect.Studies.Egressy2026.complementTypeToSize Phenomena.TenseAspect.Studies.Egressy2026.HungarianComplementType.hogyCP = Minimalism.ComplementSize.cP
- Phenomena.TenseAspect.Studies.Egressy2026.complementTypeToSize Phenomena.TenseAspect.Studies.Egressy2026.HungarianComplementType.bareTP = Minimalism.ComplementSize.tP
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The hogy fragment entry and the complementTypeToSize function agree.
hogy-CP is opaque to tense Agree.
Bare TP is transparent to tense Agree.
Predicted readings for hogy-CP: shifted only.
Predicted readings for bare TP: both shifted and simultaneous.
For each empirical judgment, prove that the observed availability
of the simultaneous reading matches what availableReadingsBySize
predicts for the complement type.
Helper: check if a judgment's simultaneous availability matches the theoretical prediction. The prediction is: simultaneous is available iff the complement is transparent to tense Agree.
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tudta + hogy-CP: no simultaneous reading, as predicted.
mondta + hogy-CP: no simultaneous reading, as predicted.
hitte + hogy-CP: no simultaneous reading, as predicted.
tudta + bare TP: simultaneous reading available, as predicted.
All judgments match predictions.
Hungarian's Williams Cycle stage.
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Hungarian's partial SOT matches the empirical pattern: both readings in TP, shifted only in CP.
English, by contrast, is full SOT — both readings in all complement types.
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Japanese is non-SOT — shifted only in all complement types.
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The temporal adverb előző nap 'the day before' forces the shifted reading. In hogy-CP complements (where only shifted is available), this is compatible. In bare TP complements (where both readings are available), it selects the shifted reading. This provides independent evidence that the CP complement really does lack the simultaneous reading, rather than there being some other blocking effect.
előző nap is compatible with hogy-CP (shifted-only) complements, because it itself forces the shifted reading.
aznap 'that day' can diagnose the simultaneous reading in bare TP, because it is compatible with both readings.
Hungarian akkor 'then' shifts perspective, like all cross-linguistic "then" adverbs.
@cite{egressy-2026} uses the definite/indefinite conjugation split as independent evidence for complement size. hogy-CP triggers definite conjugation; bare complements may allow indefinite.
The fragment entries record both conjugation forms, so we can verify
that the matrix verb forms in the data entries are the expected
conjugation type.
All hogy-CP judgments use the definite conjugation past form.