The Predicate in Romanian Grammar Books. From Ion Heliade Rădulescu to Hariton Tiktin
The Predicate in Romanian Grammar Books. From Ion Heliade Rădulescu to Hariton Tiktin

Summary/Abstract: The predicate, as main part of the sentence along with the subject, is competently analyzed for the first time by Ion Heliade Rădulescu, in his Gramatica românească (1828). It approaches language from a logical-rationalist perspective, dominant at the age, according to which every sentence must be centered upon a subject and a predicate, which he calls Prezis (= Foretold). The next significant grammatical work in Romanian linguistics is Timotei Cipariu’s Gramatica limbii române. Consisting of two volumes – Analitica (1869) and Sintetica (1877) –, it is considered to be the first academic grammar of the Romanian language. Conceived along the same logical-rational lines, we can find in it all the features a modern grammar should contain. The two linguists had such an impact on Romanian linguistics that, in the specialized literature, the terms Heliade’s age and Cipariu’s age are used. The first linguist with an authentic scientific upbringing (acquired in Paris) was Al. Lambrior. His Gramatică română. Fonetica şi morfologia (= Romanian Grammar. Phonetics and Morphology), published in 1892, was held in great esteem among specialists. The last grammarian analyzed in this paper is Hariton Tiktin, with his Gramatica română, in two volumes: Etimologia (= Morfologia) and Sintaxa (published between the years 1891 and 1893). It is a work of unquestionable scientific value, whose greatest merit is to have introduced the basic modern terminology into Romanian grammar books.

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