Prepositions in Aromanian

This contribution has two main purposes, to provide a description of the nature and distribution of prepositions and, more generally, of PPs in Aromanian, and to propose some points of a theoretical treatment of prepositions. We will consider the structures headed by a sub-set of Aromanian prepositions in varieties spoken in South Albania. Locative expressions include simple Ps, such as ɣ/la ‘at, to’, kət ‘at’, tu ‘at, in’, a ‘at’, and complex PPs, where the locative element is followed by a simple preposition or, alternatively, a possessive article (PA; cf. Dobrovie-Sorin, Giurgea 2013), such as dəninti di/PA ‘before, in front of’, dənpoi di, dup ‘after, behind’, də ɟɔs di/PA, tsu da ‘under’, ndzənə di/pis, pisti ‘on, over’ etc. Other elementary relators include di/ti ‘of, for, by’, ku ‘with’. Complex PPs involve di or alternatively a Linker, i.e. a pre-nominal particle, followed by the oblique form of the noun; in the latter instance, Ps are syntactically constructed like nouns followed by a genitive possessor introduced by the Linker. This distribution, also known from standard Romanian, calls into question Svenonius (2006) as regards the categorial differentiation of AxPart from N (Franco et al. 2017). Elementary locative relators tu, kət, a, la ‘at, to’ are sensitive to the referential ranking of place, partially recalling the parallel phenomena in the distribution of Albanian (and other Romance languages) prepositions, which imply differential interpretations depending on animacy and person. The data we will examine in the following sections have been collected through field investigations in the area around the Southern Abanian town of Fier. Specifically, the data here discussed are of informants from Libofshë.