Gjuhësi Ballkanike

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In Albanian and Rumanian there are also some indefinite pronouns of a similar type of
construction.; cp. Alb. kush-do, Rum. cine-va; Alb. di-kush. Rum. ne-µ-tine etc. (see the
Albanian version). The similarity of their construction is striking. (10).
In Albanian and Rumanian one can also observe a relatively old tendency to cross out “the
boundary line” among the genders of inanimates. That is why there have often happened gender
shifts among such nouns particularly in the plural, where the attention is rather concentrated
upon the distinction of the number. In Albanian such a gender shift takes place with masculine
and neuter inanimates forming their plural by the formants -e, -a, -ra/-na. (11). This
phenomenon in Albanian has been supported by two main factors: 1) The evolution of the stem
final sounds, which has since long levelled the distinction among the three genders in the plural;
2) the use of these nouns with plural formants of feminine source. Such a phenomenon is
relatively ancient in Albanian; it has taken place before Buzuku (1555). (12).
In Rumanian, too, inanimate masculine nouns forming the plural by -e < Lat. -ae, or -uri < Lat. -
ora, behave as feminines in that number. Such a gender shift is encountered also in Greeek
(rarely) and in some other languages. This phenomenon is to be considered as a parallel
development, as in Albanian and Rumanian it has taken place at a period, when they had no
more direct contacts between them. (13).
Besides the postpositive article, Albanian and Rumanian have coined also prepositive “articles”
serving as constitutive parts of adjectives and of the genitive case. (14). But, whereas in
Albanian in both cases the prepositive “articles” have the same form, in Rumanian they are of
diferent sources. Moreover, in Rumanian the adjectives are pre-articulated only when they
follow a definite noun, whereas the genitive is used with a prepositive “article", when it follows
an indefinite noun (cp. om bun ~ omul cel bun; o casЈ a vecinului ~ casa vecinului). (15). In
order to give a right answer to the question whether there is a historical connection between
Albanian and Rumanian in this regard, it is necessary to determine the time, in which the
prepositive “articles” have appeared in these languages. In Albanian they should have appeared
before its contacts with the Balkan Slavonic. (16-17). But in Rumanian they should have
appeared somewhat later, after the XII centry. Therefore one cannot establish a direct historical
relation between Albanian and Rumanian in this regard. (18).
Among the syntactic innovations brought about in Albanian and Rumanian in the course of their
evolution one should mention also their relatively ancient tendency to place the “bound”
determinatives (adjectives, possessives, the genitive case etc.) after the noun; whereas the
“unbound” determinatives (demonstratives, interrogatives etc.) are regularly placed before the
noun. In both languages the postposition of the “bound” determinatives should have taken place
before the pre-articulation of the adjectives and of the genitive case. (19).
Another phenomenon common to Albanian and Rumanian is the use of the past participle after
impersonal verbs with the value of an infinitive (cp. Alb. do bërë, duhet bërë, Rum. trebuie
fЈcut “it should be done”), as well as the formation of some non-finite forms by means of the
participle preceded by prepositions (see also IX/11-13).
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