clitic (n.)

A term used in GRAMMAR to refer to a FORM which resembles a WORD, but which cannot stand on its own as a normal UTTERANCE, being PHONOLOGICALLY dependent upon a neighbouring word (its host) in a CONSTRUCTION. (The term ‘clitic’ comes from the Greek word for ‘leaning’.) Examples of cliticized forms are the CONTRACTED forms of be, such as I’m and he’s. The ARTICLES of English, French, etc., are sometimes referred to as clitics: a form like the cannot stand on its own in normal utterance, but it would be called a word none the less by NATIVE-SPEAKERS. Such clitic words (‘clitics’) can be classified into proclitics (i.e. they depend upon a following word, as in the case of the articles) and enclitics (i.e. they depend upon a preceding word, as in the attachment (cliticization) of some PRONOUNS to the end of a VERB form in Italian or Spanish). The processes are also referred to as proclisis and enclisis respectively. Clitic-climbing occurs when a clitic moves from its local domain to a higher constituent, as in Italian Maria lo vuole vedere (‘Maria wants to see him’), where the lo has moved from the infinitive to before the first verb. Clitic-doubling occurs when a clitic is used despite the existence of an element with the same meaning and function in the same clause, as in Spanish Maria me visito a mi (‘Maria visited me’).

مواضيع ذات صلة

Dialect differentiation in Lexical Phonology: the unwelcome effects of underspecification Introduction

The life-cycle of the Scottish Vowel Length Rule

From sound change to phonological rule Standard Generative Phonology and Lexical Phonology

The ordering of SVLR and LLL in a Lexical Phonology

The environment for SVLR

Evidence for the interaction of SVLR and LLL

Low-Level Lengthening

The Scottish Vowel Length Rule and Low-Level Lengthening Experimental evidence

The input to the Scottish Vowel Length Rule

The Scottish Vowel Length Rule in Present-Day Scots and Scottish Standard English

SVLR and diphthongs

Dating the historical SVLR