EXAMPLES OF PHRASAL UNIVERBATION IN ROMANIAN AND LATIN, AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER ROMANCE IDIOMS

Romanian is, in some ways, closer to Latin than other Romance varieties. This paper examines some of these similarities by following Haspelmath’s categorisation of indefinite pronoun markers and using Lehmann’s parameters and processes of grammaticalization. Sets of pronouns formed by phrasal univerbation of the dunno and wishes/pleases indefinite markers are contrasted in Latin, Romanian and other Romance varieties. According to Haspelmath’s model, semantic maps are constructed to show the differences and similarities in the function of certain sets of pronouns. This study will investigate how Romanian, in terms of its functions, grammaticalization parameters, and use of original Latin phrases, is closer to Latin compared to other Romance varieties. Since numerous sets of pronouns formed according to the same pattern can also be found in Albanian, and these sequences can also be inflected, a possible explanation for this phenomenon is the influence of the substrate Thracian and Illyrian languages.