Többszavas

Többszavas is a linguistic term used to describe expressions consisting of more than one word. In Hungarian linguistics, többszavas kifejezések are semantic units that behave as a single item in syntax and semantics, though they are formed from several words. They contrast with simple or single-word expressions. Their internal structure can be semi-fixed or highly fixed, and their meaning is not always fully predictable from the component words.

They cover several subtypes: idioms (non-literal meanings), collocations (frequent co-occurrence with a degree of predictability), phrasal or predicative expressions, and fixed multiword phrases such as set phrases or proper-name sequences. Some MWEs allow inflection or modification of individual parts, while others behave as rigid units and resist decomposition.

In computational linguistics and natural language processing, többszavas kifejezések pose challenges for parsing, machine translation, and semantic representation. They are typically identified in corpora via frequency, association measures, or curated dictionaries. Accurate handling of MWEs improves text understanding, lexicography, and cross-language transfer.

In dictionaries and language resources, MWEs are treated as separate entries or multiword lemmas. In Hungarian, the inflectional system may apply to parts of the expression, or to a fixed whole, depending on the grammar of the expression. Understanding többszavas kifejezések is essential for language education, translation, and language technology.