temperature terms

[Edith A Moravcsik]

PS The Hungarian construction _Meleg van._ "warm is" 'The weather (or,
   more precisely, air temperature whether outdoors or indoors) is hot.'
   (as opposed to _Meleg._ "warm" 'It/that is hot.') reflects the nominal
   use of the adjective _meleg_ 'warm" and this is why the verb 'is'
   appears. Compare the presence  of 'is' with "real" nouns (i.e., that
   are not also usable as adjectives):

   Vihar van. "storm is" 'There is a storm.'

   Baj van. "trouble is" 'There is a problem.'

   Jo' hi'r van. "good news is" 'There is good news.'

   Other evidence for additional uses of _meleg_ "warm" 'warm air
   temperature' as noun (note use of definite article and presence of case
   marker - both nominal properties):

   Szeretem a meleg-et. "I:like the warm-ACC" 'I like warm air
      temperature.' (but not, for example, warm coats)

   A meleg terjed. "the warm spreads" 'The warm weather is spreading.'

Edith moravcsik

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			 Edith A. Moravcsik
			 Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
			 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
		         Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
                         USA

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