A komparatív parentetikus tagmondatok bal perifériája

The article provides a theoretical approach towards the syntax of comparative parenthetical clauses in Hungarian, introduced by the complementiser mint ‘as’, examining their relation to comparative subclauses, which are also introduced by mint ‘as/than’. Apart from there being similarities between the two types, considerable differences are expected to arise due to the general observation that while subordinate clauses are syntactically linked to a matrix clause, parenthetical clauses are known to lack such a link to their host clause. Parenthetical clauses establish a one-way relationship towards their host clause by means of a zero operator that is independent from comparatives, and hence this operator shows interaction with the comparative operator, which happens to be visible in Hungarian. The investigation is also extended to German and English, which have no overt comparative operators, yet they show that the parenthetical clause can be larger than a subordinate clause.