Romanian imperatives from the perspective of generative grammar.

Abstract

This thesis aims to answer the question why the Imperative has uses in Romanian not found in other Romance languages. This thesis will argue that Romanian has a mixed Imperative paradigm, combining characteristics of Romance languages (e.g., Italian, Italian dialects, and Spanish)---since Romanian itself is a Romance language---and Balkan languages (Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian). I will argue that some differences are historical, since Romanian is genetically related to the former, and geographically, hence typologically, to the latter. In the first chapter, I will focus on the Romanian verbal paradigm, introducing some data about the Romanian verb with some diachronic references. I will describe the Imperative Mood from the perspective of traditional grammar. In the second chapter, I will review the most recent studies of generative grammar that have explored Romance and Balkan Imperatives. In the last chapter, I will try to establish the correct syntactic analysis of the Romanian Imperative. I will argue that Romanian can be included within the class of languages with distinct morphology and syntax for the Imperative Mood, but I will present the contrasting elements that allow us to call Romanian a language with a "mixed" Imperative syntax. The supporting examples will be taken from standard Romanian and from the Romanian classic literature that I have consulted.