Hungarian classifier constructions, plurality and the mass–count distinction

Abstract

Abstract We argue that Hungarian has both mass and count nouns, and a plural marker which is sensitive to the distinction, as well as a system of sortal classifiers. In English, most nouns are either mass (e.g mud) or count (e.g. book), and there are only a limited number of fully flexible nouns with both mass and count forms (e.g. stone/stones). In Hungarian, however, most count nouns are flexible, and a noun like rózsa ‘rose’ is ambiguous between a mass and a count item. This results in two ways of counting: rózsa as a count noun can be directly modified by a numeral as in két rózsa ‘two roses’, but if it is a mass noun counting uses a classifier construction as in két szál rózsa.

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