Abstract

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ABSTRACT

In this presentation we aim to introduce the main topics addressed in a collective research project which we have just started: Contrasting contexts of language contact in synchrony and diachrony: the view from Romanian syntax (2020-2023). The goal of the project is to investigate the limits and the effects of language contact on the syntax of Romanian in three different language contact settings: vertical contact (the influence of Old Church Slavonic on old Romanian), long-term bilingualism (the bilingual Russian–Romanian Lipovan community), and contact in the setting of a Sprachbund (the Balkan Sprachbund). As the concept of ‘language contact setting’ is of crucial importance in our investigation, besides the theoretical problems related to language contact in syntax (an important issue in present-day linguistic inquiry), we present case studies which show the extent to which a certain setting plays a role in different contact phenomena.