A comparison of Hungarian focus structures: experimental insights

Our paper reports the results of an experiment we conducted to compare Hungarian preverbal focus (PVF) and syntactically unmarked focus (SUF) within the same experimental framework. The aim of the experiment was twofold: (i) to examine whether native speakers give higher ratings for PVF/SUF constructions in exhaustive settings than in non-exhaustive ones, (ii) to test whether the mode of presentation (written vs. auditory clues, no introductory question vs. the presence of an introductory wh-question) influences the ratings. We used a sentence-picture verification task in a relatively rich context. We found no empirical difference between PFV and SUF across the conditions, i.e. SUF might also receive an exhaustive interpretation (Surányi 2011). The results regarding the role of the wh-question are in line with Onea and Beaver's work (2011) on PVF. Our findings support the assumption that for both structures exhaustiveness can be explained by the presence of a not necessarily explicit introductory wh-question, namely, a contextually derivable implicit question under discussion also facilitates the exhaustive interpretation.