Variație sintactică în uzul actual al construcțiilor relative

This study aims to explore the preferences of contemporary Romanian speakers regarding isofunctional structures and forms in relative clause constructions. I compare findings from my earlier analyses, which utilized a limited corpus, with results from a more extensive corpus analysis that provides greater data variation. The experiment is conducted in a controlled fashion, adhering to several established trends identified in the manually collected and managed corpus. The analysis of RoTenTen21 broadly supports three main observations: (i) the hierarchy of relative connectors, favoring the use of care (‘which’) followed by ce (‘what’), (ii) the presence of constructions with covert connectors, and (iii) a preference for inflectionally unmarked connectors over their marked counterparts. In terms of relative junctions, stereotypical structures are examined, such as indiferent + Wh-words (‘whatever/whoever/whenever’) and în măsura/cazul/ipoteza în care (‘to the extent/in case’). The third aspect of the analysis focuses on existential modal constructions, including both infinitive and subjunctive relative clauses, as well as pseudo-cleft constructions. This analysis also reveals the competition between infinitival and conjunctive relative clauses. Specifically, for constructions using ce (‘what’), the infinitival form is preferred, whereas for other connectors, the subjunctive form is favoured. Additionally, within the constructions involving ce (‘what’), there is a notable preference for certain verbs, such as face (‘do’) and căuta (‘look for’), which are significantly more frequent. The examination of pseudo-cleft constructions indicates that, in cases where the second term of the equative structure is a subordinate clause introduced by că (‘that’), the relative connector ceea ce is more prevalent. Conversely, in randomly selected structures without this specific structural constraint, the occurrences of the two connectors are relatively balanced.