Demonstratives in medieval Romania: a comparative analysis in a functional perspective

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative study of demonstratives in the medieval translation in different languages (Latin, Italian, French, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese) of the same work (an ascetic treatise of Isaac of Nineveh) in a functional perspective. It was confirmed the hypothesis that the demonstrative systems were restructured in the language change process from Latin to Romance languages, not only in terms of forms but especially in terms of functions: the demonstratives began to perform functions which, in the Latin, were expressed by conjunction, explanatory phrase, present participle, relative pronoun, anaphoric and identity pronoun, intensive pronoun and even by the lack of formal resource. Finally, it was found that the context in which there was a major retention of the use of demonstratives is in the expression of immediate contrast.