We analyse two of the most important types of nouns of action in present-day Rumanian, i. e., long infinitives and derivatives with the suffix –ţie, in order to explain some important differences between them in the light of R. Simone’s theory of lexical cycles (Simone, 2000). According to Simone, nouns of action in classical Latin expressed fundamentally events, without the addiction of any other meaning, while in late Latin and even more in Romance languages, thanks to a semantic development which takes place by the algorithm of a lexical cycle, nouns of action can pass to signify the arguments of the matrix verb too. In this article we try to show that in Rumanian, long infinitive, which derives directly from Latin infinitive and has had the possibility of going through all the phases of the lexical cycle in the history of Rumanian, always expresses events and in addiction can signify arguments too, while derivatives in –ţie, which are much more recent and are words of French origin, always express arguments and only exceptionally express events, that is, they show the meanings acquired at the end of their lexical cycle in French (meanings which are more referential, more specific, sometimes technical) and tend to occupy the places still left free by long infinitive in the system of Rumanian nouns of action.

Cerbasi, D. (2005). Nouns of Action in Rumanian: Long Infinitive and Derivatives with the Suffix –ţie. STUDI ITALIANI DI LINGUISTICA TEORICA E APPLICATA, XXXIV/2, 309-323.

Nouns of Action in Rumanian: Long Infinitive and Derivatives with the Suffix –ţie

CERBASI, Donato
2005-01-01

Abstract

We analyse two of the most important types of nouns of action in present-day Rumanian, i. e., long infinitives and derivatives with the suffix –ţie, in order to explain some important differences between them in the light of R. Simone’s theory of lexical cycles (Simone, 2000). According to Simone, nouns of action in classical Latin expressed fundamentally events, without the addiction of any other meaning, while in late Latin and even more in Romance languages, thanks to a semantic development which takes place by the algorithm of a lexical cycle, nouns of action can pass to signify the arguments of the matrix verb too. In this article we try to show that in Rumanian, long infinitive, which derives directly from Latin infinitive and has had the possibility of going through all the phases of the lexical cycle in the history of Rumanian, always expresses events and in addiction can signify arguments too, while derivatives in –ţie, which are much more recent and are words of French origin, always express arguments and only exceptionally express events, that is, they show the meanings acquired at the end of their lexical cycle in French (meanings which are more referential, more specific, sometimes technical) and tend to occupy the places still left free by long infinitive in the system of Rumanian nouns of action.
2005
Cerbasi, D. (2005). Nouns of Action in Rumanian: Long Infinitive and Derivatives with the Suffix –ţie. STUDI ITALIANI DI LINGUISTICA TEORICA E APPLICATA, XXXIV/2, 309-323.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11590/158226
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