Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 105. kötet (2008)

Tanulmányok - Elekfi László: A hatodik mondatrész (The sixth syntactic constituent) 45

A hatodik mondatrész By the term „sixth syntactic constituent" we mean the nominal predicate, which was called complement in grammars of Hungarian written a hundred years ago, in which, under the influence of K. F. Becker's German grammars the verb was identified with the predicate. In reality, the verb is a central element only in the formal structure of the sentence, and its role is different from that of the predicate of a logical proposition. The nominal predicate expresses a relation of category assignment or qualification with respect to its subject. In this relation (relation a) the subject is a designator, because it has immediate reference, whereas its predicate has an attributive function. They are coordinated. In relation ß, which is a structural relation and describes an event, the nominal constituents are subordinated to the verb. In the communicative structure of the sentence (relation y) a constituent including new information attaches to a constituent including given or known information (theme vs. rheme or topic vs. comment). The three kinds of predicative relations can be said to unequivocally involve a subject-predicate relation if they coincide. In the case of any discrepancy it is advisable to use another terminology. The present paper aims at clarifying also the history of these terms and to help understand difficult sentences through distinguishing between these terms. Verb does not only mean a part of speech, it is also a syntactic constituent in relation ß (as a regent/governing category), and in this function we propose to call it „sentence verb". The terms „logical subject" and „logical predicate" are not unequivocal because some use them to refer to subjects and predicates in relation a, some in relation y. Those who have contributed significantly to an understanding of these issues, going back to Aristotle, include Samuel Brassai, G. Frege and L. Bloomfield in the first place. 1. Antal László ötlete, Kenései bírálata 1.1. Ilyen címen Antal László vetett föl egy ötletet, amikor a határozó alakú hátravetett jelzőt nem tudta besorolni annak az öt mondatrész-kategóriának valamelyikébe, melyek immár fél évszázada alapvetőek a magyar nyelvtanokban. Doktori értekezésében is megjelenik már ez a gondolat, mert a hátravetett jelzőt nem tudja „befogni" a többi jelző közé (Antal 1980: 13). Később külön tanulmányban bőven kifejtette gondolatát (Antal 1985). 1.2. Antalnak ezt az érvelését sokan nem fogadják el. A Strukturális magyar nyelvtan (Kiefer 1992: 255-264) a határozók közt tárgyalja az ilyeneket is (257): * A Nyelvtudományi Intézetben 2007. szeptember 13-án elhangzott előadás bővített változata. Nyelvtudományi Közlemények 105. 46-79.