The developments, uses, and functions of preverbal particles in Hungarian and other Uralic languages

Within the Uralic language family, preverbal particles generally only occur within the Ugric branch of the Finno-Ugric languages, a fact known for some time (cf. Zsirai, 1933). Most Uralic scholars (who assume the existence of proto-Uralic) assume that preverbal particles are not a Uralic feature, that is, the existence of these particles in a handful of Uralic languages is due to innovations in the later forms of each of those languages. A more open question is whether the existence of preverbal particles in the (Ob-)Ugric languages is due a feature in common (Ob-)Ugric, but note that the preverbal particles found in other Ob-Ugric languages are etymologically related to those found in Hungarian. The notable non-Ugric Uralic language possessing preverbal particles is Estonian. I will be using the term preverbal particle in a neutral way to designate phrasal elements appearing before or attached to the verb. I take prefixes (found, for example, in Russian) to be preverbal particles which only appear immediately before the verb and typically comprise a single phonological word. Preverbs, on the other hand, may appear separated from the verb.