Classifiers of quantity and quality in Romanian Cover Image

Classifiers of quantity and quality in Romanian
Classifiers of quantity and quality in Romanian

Author(s): Mihaela Tănase-Dogaru
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: classifier; massifier; pseudopartitive; restrictive appositives

Summary/Abstract: The present paper proposes that classifiers in Romanian pertain to two distinct categories: classifiers of quantity or “massifiers” and classifiers of quality or “count-classifiers”, to borrow the terms from Cheng and Sybesma (1999). The first category is represented by the first nominal in a pseudopartitive construction of the type o bucată de brânză / a piece of cheese (Tănase-Dogaru 2009). The second category is represented by the first nominal in the so-called restrictive appositives, an example of which is Planeta Venus / the planet Venus (van Riemsdijk 1998, Cornilescu 2007). An important result of the paper is the unification under a similar treatment of concepts which are generally offered different analyses in the literature.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 77-90
  • Page Count: 14
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