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Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages
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Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages

A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2023) | Viewed by 7837

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Virginia Hill

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Arts, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada
Interests: diachronic syntax; comparative syntax
Prof. Dr. Adam Ledgeway

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK
Interests: the comparative history and morphosyntax of the Romance languages; Italian dialectology; Latin; Italo-Greek; syntactic theory; linguistic change and language contact

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue organized by Languages collects the most recent studies in the morpho-syntax of Romance languages or language varieties that typologically qualify as Balkan (e.g., they  display subjunctive mood particles, periphrastic future, systematic clitic doubling of objects, etc.). This is an under-researched area, especially for the languages spoken at the south of the Danube (Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian). So far, we have received proposals on the syntax of subjunctives, periphrastic future and differential object marking. Proposals on any other topics are welcome.

Tentative Completion Schedule

Abstract Submission Deadline: 17 April 2023
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: 1 May 2023
Full Manuscript Deadline: 15 September 2023

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a provisional title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]) or to Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Prof. Dr. Virginia Hill
Prof. Dr. Adam Ledgeway
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 439 KiB  
Article
The Effects of the Slavic–Balkan Contact on Lipovan Daco-Romanian
by Adnana Boioc Apintei
Languages 2024, 9(4), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9040122 - 29 Mar 2024
Viewed by 603
Abstract
This paper offers both a descriptive account and an analysis of the possible consequences of linguistic contact between the Daco-Romanian variety spoken by the Lipovan community and Russian (starting from a fieldwork-based corpus study) regarding (low) verb movement in neutral readings, ultimately reflected [...] Read more.
This paper offers both a descriptive account and an analysis of the possible consequences of linguistic contact between the Daco-Romanian variety spoken by the Lipovan community and Russian (starting from a fieldwork-based corpus study) regarding (low) verb movement in neutral readings, ultimately reflected in the preference for [adv-v] word order. The situation identified in Lipovan Daco-Romanian will be compared with that of old and standard Daco-Romanian, Moldovan Daco-Romanian, and Russian. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
27 pages, 447 KiB  
Article
Daco-Romanian Definite DPs at the Syntax-Phonology Interface
by Daniela Isac
Languages 2024, 9(3), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9030067 - 20 Feb 2024
Viewed by 867
Abstract
In this paper I propose that the host of the definite suffix in Daco-Romanian languages like Modern Romanian, Old Romanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian, and Aromanian (DacRom) is determined at PF, as a consequence of the conditions that apply to the Spell-Out of chains. The [...] Read more.
In this paper I propose that the host of the definite suffix in Daco-Romanian languages like Modern Romanian, Old Romanian, Megleno-Romanian, Istro-Romanian, and Aromanian (DacRom) is determined at PF, as a consequence of the conditions that apply to the Spell-Out of chains. The relevant chains are the result of an Agree relation obtained between the [def] feature of the D head and a matching feature of other heads within the DP, such as N and A. I propose that Agree chains are subject to restrictions that are similar to those affecting movement chains, so no new mechanisms need to be posited in order to account for the overt realization of the suffixal definite article in DacRom. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
10 pages, 350 KiB  
Article
Wh-Interrogative Clauses in Istro-Romanian
by Ramona Cătălina Corbeanu and Ionuț Geană
Languages 2024, 9(2), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9020064 - 17 Feb 2024
Viewed by 831
Abstract
This paper focuses on the syntax of interrogative clauses in Istro-Romanian. The aim is to determine the parametric settings for V-to-C, subject placement (SVO or VSO) and the target for constituent movement under discourse triggers. The findings indicate that Istro-Romanian preserved the parametric [...] Read more.
This paper focuses on the syntax of interrogative clauses in Istro-Romanian. The aim is to determine the parametric settings for V-to-C, subject placement (SVO or VSO) and the target for constituent movement under discourse triggers. The findings indicate that Istro-Romanian preserved the parametric settings from Old Romanian, especially those that converged with the parametric settings in Croatian grammar. In particular, SVO can be explained only through inheritance, whereas VSO, lack of V-to-C and scrambling are a matter of both inheritance and convergence with Croatian. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
36 pages, 957 KiB  
Article
Explorations in Aromanian Morpho-Syntax: NPs, Prepositional Contexts and Infinitives
by Leonardo Maria Savoia and Benedetta Baldi
Languages 2024, 9(2), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9020046 - 29 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1132
Abstract
The main topic of this article is the relationship between morphosyntactic contexts and nominal inflections in Aromanian varieties of southern Albania. These varieties have a specialized inflection in the plural definite and feminine singular nouns, associated with genitive, dative, and prepositional contexts, where [...] Read more.
The main topic of this article is the relationship between morphosyntactic contexts and nominal inflections in Aromanian varieties of southern Albania. These varieties have a specialized inflection in the plural definite and feminine singular nouns, associated with genitive, dative, and prepositional contexts, where it is preceded by a Possessive Introducer. We present a detailed picture of the microvariation that characterizes the different systems. The broad syncretism that emerges suggests a rethinking of the syntactic status of inflections and the notion of Case. Our approach assumes that morphology is based on Merge within the syntactic computation and that sub-word elements are provided with interpretable content. This theoretical model will also guide us in the study of prepositions and their distribution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
40 pages, 1051 KiB  
Article
Exploring Microvariation in Verb-Movement Parameters within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance
by Ștefania Costea and Adam Ledgeway
Languages 2024, 9(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010019 - 8 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1234
Abstract
This article reviews some of the principal patterns of morphosyntactic variation within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance in support of a distinction between low vs high V-movement grammars variously distributed in accordance with diatopic variation (Daco-Romance: west vs east, Aromanian: north vs south), diachronic [...] Read more.
This article reviews some of the principal patterns of morphosyntactic variation within Daco-Romanian and across Daco-Romance in support of a distinction between low vs high V-movement grammars variously distributed in accordance with diatopic variation (Daco-Romance: west vs east, Aromanian: north vs south), diachronic and diagenerational variation (Megleno-Romanian) and endogenous vs exogenous factors (Istro-Romanian). This approach, which builds on the insights of the Borer–Chomsky conjecture, assumes that the locus of parametric variation lies in the lexicon and the (PF-)lexicalization of specific formal feature values of individual functional projections, in our case the clausal heads T and v and the broad cartographic areas that they can be taken to represent. In this way, our analysis locates the relevant dimensions of (micro)variation among different Daco-Romance varieties in properties of T and v. In particular, we show that the feature values of these two heads are not set in isolation, inasmuch as parameters form an interrelated network of implicational relationships: the given value of a particular parameter entails the concomitant activation of associated lower-order parametric choices, whose potential surface effects may consequently become entirely predictable, or indeed render other parameters entirely irrelevant. In this way we can derive properties such as verb–adverb order, auxiliary selection, retention vs loss of the preterite, the availability of a dedicated preverbal subject position, the distribution of DOM, and the different stages of Jespersen’s Cycle across Daco-Romance quite transparently, based on the relevant strength of T and v in individual sub-branches and sub-dialects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
31 pages, 1751 KiB  
Article
Stative vs. Eventive Participles in an Arbëresh Variety under the Influence of the Italian Language
by Giuseppina Turano
Languages 2024, 9(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages9010003 - 19 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1318
Abstract
In this paper, I explore the properties and the uses of the past participles in the Arbëresh variety of S. Nicola dell’Alto, an Albanian dialect still spoken in Southern Italy, which has been in contact with Italo-Romance varieties for more than five centuries. [...] Read more.
In this paper, I explore the properties and the uses of the past participles in the Arbëresh variety of S. Nicola dell’Alto, an Albanian dialect still spoken in Southern Italy, which has been in contact with Italo-Romance varieties for more than five centuries. The data are discussed in comparison to standard Albanian and the contact language, Italian. In Albanian grammar, there is only one type of participle: the past participle. It has both verbal and adjectival properties. As a verbal form, the participle is used in compound and in periphrastic tenses, in combination with both the auxiliaries KAM ‘have’ and JAM ‘be’. It can also be used in combination with other particles to create non-finite verbal forms such as gerund or infinitive or to build up temporal expressions. Finally, it can also be used after some modal impersonal verbs. Verbal participles never show agreement. Albanian participles can also be adjectival. All the adjectives derived by a participial verb take a linking article and always agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, Case and definiteness. The formal distinction of the verbal participles from adjectival participles seems to correlate with the aspectual properties of the construction: a verbal participle appears in eventive structures, whereas an adjectival participle occurs in stative structures. But, as we shall see, this is not always the case. Arbëresh participles have maintained the same morphological and syntactical properties of Albanian. They can be used both in stative and in eventive contexts, but in Arbëresh eventive passives, which are built up as in Italian rather than as in Albanian, the adjectival participles are always inflected. Agreement is obligatory in all the contexts where it is in Italian. This is a clear contact-induced change. The data presented in this paper show that Arbëresh, on the one hand, preserves features of Albanian grammar, whereas, on the other hand, it has undergone changes under the influence of the surrounding Italo-Romance varieties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
20 pages, 4610 KiB  
Article
Subjunctives in Romanian Languages: Micro-Parametric Variation in Complement CPs and the Periphrastic Future
by Gabriela Alboiu and Virginia Hill
Languages 2023, 8(4), 267; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8040267 - 14 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1196
Abstract
This paper aims to (i) establish the micro-parametric variation in the development of the subjunctive CP in Romanian languages (Daco-Romanian/DR; Aromanian/AR; Megleno-Romanian/MR; Istro-Romanian/IR) and (ii) account for derivations in which the subjunctive is integrated into the formation of the periphrastic future in these [...] Read more.
This paper aims to (i) establish the micro-parametric variation in the development of the subjunctive CP in Romanian languages (Daco-Romanian/DR; Aromanian/AR; Megleno-Romanian/MR; Istro-Romanian/IR) and (ii) account for derivations in which the subjunctive is integrated into the formation of the periphrastic future in these languages. Briefly, the analysis points out that the subjunctive CP in Romanian languages can display a split Fin (unlike in other Balkan languages) and that the remerging of the split Fin finds itself at different stages: complete in DR, but incomplete at different degrees in AR, MR, and IR. The compatibility of the subjunctive morphology with the derivation of the periphrastic future follows from the semantic bleaching and grammaticization of the volitional ‘will’ and ‘have’ verbs, together with the Balkan Sprachbund subjunctive mood marking, which combine in a monoclausal construction via a serial verb derivation to compositionally check a Fin marked [+finite, modal]. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Formal Studies in Balkan Romance Languages)
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