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In:Adjective Adverb Interfaces in Romance
Edited by Martin Hummel and Salvador Valera
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 242] 2017
► pp. 227–253

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Chapter 8
Properties of Romanian adverbs and adjectives from a categorial status perspective

 | University of Bucharest
 | The “Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” Institute of Linguistics, Bucharest
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Published online: 21 December 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/la.242.09mir
Abstract
In this article we discuss some properties of Romanian adverbs and adjectives from the perspective of their categorial status and, as part of this issue, the distinction between inflection and derivation within the subclass of derived adverbs. In Romanian the majority of adverbs are homonymous to their adjectival counterparts, a possible argument in favour of the single category claim. Romanian adjectives display agreement with the nouns, while adverbs remain invariable (with some exceptions, considered incorrect by normative grammars). However, it is possible to use non-agreeing adjectives in postverbal positions (usually described as adverbial configurations). We examine the distributional properties of adverbs, non-agreeing adjectives and variable (agreeing) adjectives and also the inflectional vs. derivational nature of the adverbial suffix -ește.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Types of Romanian adverbs
    • 2.1Non-analysable adverbs
      • 2.1.1Adverbs homonymous to adjectives
      • 2.1.2Primary adverbs
    • 2.2Suffixed adverbs
  • 3.Non-typical adverbialisation
    • 3.1Participial or supine forms
    • 3.2Nouns
  • 4.Homonymic adverbs and adjectives and their distributional properties
  • 5.Adverbs as noun modifiers
  • 6.Parenthetical positions
  • 7.Derived adverbs and adjectives
    • 7.1The adverbs derived with -ește
    • 7.2The adjectives in -esc
    • 7.3The properties of the adverbs with -ește, between inflection and derivation
      • 7.3.1Lexical category
      • 7.3.2Productivity and paradigmaticity
      • 7.3.3Obligatoriness and replaceability
      • 7.3.4Affix ordering
      • 7.3.5Meaning
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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