folia uralica debreceniensia 19. - Finnugor Nyelvtudományi Tanszék

DENNICA PENEVA
In Bulgarian, agreement after two or more singular conjoined nouns requires
a plural verb. There are of course exceptions to this rule.
Hungarian linguists consider as more correct the use of plural predicative
nominals after animate plural subjects, while inanimate subjects require a
singular predicative. In that respect, Saami is fairly similar to Hungarian. In
Finnish and Estonian, both cases require a plural predicative nominal, as the
subjects denote two different matters.
In Hungarian, Finnish and Saami, coordinated subjects with both … and,
neither … nor, not only… but also, etc. agree with the nearest subject in accordance
with the principle of proximity. Of course there are exceptions to
this rule, especially in Finnish. In Bulgarian, the situation is rather mixed,
both singular and plural forms are being used. In Saami, after two subjects
the verb takes a dual form while a plural verb is used in case of several subjects.
DENNICA PENEVA
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