Martin Maiden

Gabriela Pană Dindelegan

Adina Dragomirescu

Rodica Zafiu

This book offers the first comprehensive account of the development of the complex morphological system of Romanian. It shows how the controversial origins of many of the distinctive morphological features of the language have important implications for broader historical Romance linguistics and indeed for morphological theory more generally.

The Oxford History of Romanian Morphology

Oana Uţă

This book offers the first comprehensive account of the development of the Romanian morphological system. Romanian is one of the most morphologically complex Romance languages, but has remained relatively understudied compared with better-known languages such as French and Spanish. Following an introduction that provides an outline of the history of Romanian, its writing system and major typological characteristics, and the major patterns of allomorphy, chapters in this volume explore a range of fascinatingly complex aspects of Romanian grammar whose structure and history have to date been largely inaccessible to the English-speaking world. Among the most distinctive morphological characteristics of Romanian discussed by the authors are its inflexional case system; the highly unpredictable formation of the plural; the existence of a non-finite verb form that appears to be the continuation of the Latin supine; the near-absence of distinctive subjunctive morphology; and the complex patterns of allomorphy brought about by successive sound change. The frequently controversial origins of many of these developments have important implications for broader historical Romance linguistics and indeed for morphological theory more generally.

This volume represents the first work published in English dealing with the historical grammar of Romanian from a modern theoretical perspective. It consists of a selection of papers focusing on the historical grammar of Romanian, bringing together diverse theoretical approaches in order to address a number of key morphological and syntactic issues in the history of the morphosyntactic development of Romanian. The majority of papers in this volume deal with topics in Romanian historical syntax, drawing on modern research methods and current linguistic theory, with a clear preference for parametric syntax. The most significant areas of grammar, namely the nominal domain and the verbal domain, are well represented in this volume.

Diachronic Variation in Romanian

Irina Nicula

The volume brings together fifteen papers focusing on the morphosyntax of different Romance varieties. It is based on papers presented at the workshop bearing the same title held at the University of Bucharest in November 2015 and is dedicated to Professor Martin Maiden of the University of Oxford in honour of his 60th birthday. The contributions tackle different theoretical issues concerning current linguistic theory (relevant both for comparative and diachronic approaches), including parameters, features and their hierarchical organization, word order changes, the level of verb movement in different varieties, inflected infinitives, clitic placement and clitic doubling, ethical datives, and personal subject pronouns, among others. As such, the volume represents diverse theoretical approaches to addressing a number of key morphological and syntactic issues in the morphosyntactic development of the Romance languages, drawing on modern research methods and current linguistic theory, with a clear preference for parametric syntax. The most significant areas of grammar are well-represented here. The volume will appeal to advanced graduate and postgraduate students in diachronic linguistics, theoretical linguistics, and Romance linguistics, as well as researchers in the fields of historical and typological linguistics, morphosyntactic theory, and the history of the Romance languages.

Comparative and Diachronic Perspectives on Romance Syntax

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the syntax of old Romanian written in English and targeted at a non-Romanian readership. It draws on an extensive new corpus analysis of the period between the beginning of the sixteenth century, the date of the earliest attested Romanian texts, and the end of the eighteenth century, generally considered to mark the start of the modernization of Romanian. Gabriela Pană Dindelegan and her co-authors adopt both a synchronic and diachronic approach by providing a detailed corpus analysis in a given period, while also comparing old and modern Romanian. They examine the evolution of a variety of syntactic phenomena, including the elimination or diminishing of certain facts or generalization of others, the total or partial grammaticalization of phenomena, competition between structures, and cases of syntactic variation. The book takes a typological and comparative perspective, focusing on those phenomena that are considered specific to Romanian (either on the Romance or in the Balkan area), and adopts a modern framework while still remaining accessible to readers from any background.

Gabriela Pană Dindelegan

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