O ANALIZĂ STATISTICĂ A MODIFICATORILOR REALIZAȚI PRIN PROPOZIȚII RELATIVE ÎN SCRIERILE LUI DOSOFTEI
A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF MODIFIERS EXPRESSED BY RELATIVE CLAUSES IN DOSOFTEI’S WRITINGS

Summary/Abstract: In the present paper, we aim to do a statistical analysis of modifiers expressed by relative clauses in Dosoftei’s main writings (Psaltirea în versuri, Cartea de rugăciuni, Dumnezăiasca liturghie, Psaltirea de-nțăles, Parimiile preste an and Viața și petreacerea svinților), as part of our larger project aiming to describe the noun phrase in his writings. We will first provide an overview of modification and modifiers, by adopting the perspective exposed in the Basic Grammar of the Romanian Language, which replaces the traditional syntactic function of attribute within the noun phrase with other five syntactic positions: the determiner, the modifier, the quantifier, the possessor and the complement. We will discuss the distinction between premodifiers and postmodifiers. Then, we will define relative clauses and observe that they function as postmodifiers. As far as the investigative corpus is concerned, the statistical analysis of relative clauses functioning as modifiers will include a statistical analysis of restrictive (add information which is necessary for the meaning of the sentence and require no punctuation) and nonrestrictive (can be removed from the sentence without changing its meaning and are usually separated by commas from the rest of the sentence) relative clauses, a statistical analysis of the antecedents of relative clauses, focusing on what parts of speech the antecedents are (we will discuss antecedents expressed by semi-independent pronouns, indefinite pronouns, proper nouns, demonstrative pronouns, personal pronouns, pronominal phrases, negative pronouns and reflexive pronouns) and discussing their frequency, as well as a statistical analysis of noun phrases in which relative clauses function as the unique adjuncts and noun phrases in which relative clauses co-occur with other adjuncts (either modifiers or other syntactic positions, namely quantifiers, possessors and complements). For the frequency of the antecedents, we will provide a general statistical analysis as well as a specific statistical analysis for each of the six writings to be discussed. Our statistical analysis will be relevant for observing what the main syntactic tendencies in Dosoftei’s writings are, as far as modifiers expressed by relative clauses are concerned, i.e., whether there is a preference for restrictive or nonrestrictive relative clauses and what part of speech most antecedents are expressed by. All in all, the analysis of the investigative corpus will reflect the complex possibilities of structuring the noun phrase in Dosoftei’s writings, illustrating a diversity of syntactic patterns.

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