On the distribution of adjectives in Romanian

This paper deals with the variable position of adjectives in the Romanian DP. As all other Romance languages, Romanian allows adjectives to appear in both prenominal and postnominal position. In addition, however, Romanian has a third pattern: the so-called cel construction, in which the adjective in the postnominal position is preceded by a determiner-like element, cel. This pattern is superficially similar to Determiner Spreading in Greek. In this paper we contrast the cel construction to Greek DS and discuss the similarities and differences between the two. We then present an analysis of cel as involving an appositive specification clause, building on De Vries (2002). We argue that the same structure is also involved in the context of nominal ellipsis, the second environment in which cel is found.

Published online: 19 November 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.1.09mar