Clitic

In morphosyntax, a clitic is a bound element that is not as fully attached (to its host) as an affix is (to its base). The result of the combination of a clitic with its host is called clitic group.

Examples

In French, object pronouns are clitics which are either proclitics, as me and les in (i), or enclitics, as les in (ii):

(i)	il	me	les	a	donnés
	he	to-me	them	has	given
	'he has given them to me'

(ii)	donnez	-les	-moi
	give	-them	-me
	'give them to me'

(iii)

il

mei

lesj

a

donnés

ei

ej

In syntax it is usually assumed that a clitic is related to a gap, an empty category (trace or pro). But see clitic doubling. Example (i) is analyzed as in (iii), where e is a gap.

Subtypes

• proclitic (a clitic that precedes its host)
• enclitic (a clitic that follows its host)
• endoclitic, mesoclitic (a clitic that comes in the middle of its host)

Comments

A clitic can thus be regarded as a kind of bound morpheme. A typical clitic will attach itself to a host, that is, a (fully inflected) word or phrase. The observation that they can attach to inflected words distinguishes, among other things, clitics from affixes.

Origin

Since Classical Greek and Latin only had enclitics, the term enclitic is older than the general term clitic. This general term was coined by back-formation only in the 20th century.

Link

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

Other languages

• French clitique
• German Klitikon
• Czech příklonka

References

• Haegeman, L. 1991. Introduction to Government and Binding Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Kayne, R. 1975. French Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
• Kayne, R. 1990. Romance clitics and PRO, Proceedings of the 20th annual meeting of NELS, CLSA. Univ. of Massachusetts: Amherst.
• Klavans, J. 1982. From Cyclic Phonology to Lexical Phonology. In van der Hulst, H. & Smith, N. (eds.), The Structure of Phonological Representations (I), 131-175.
• Klavans, J. 1985. Some Consequences of Lexical Phonology. In van der Hulst, H. & Smith, N. (eds.), The Structure of Phonological Representations (I), 131-175.
• Nespor, M. & Vogel, I. 1986. Prosodic Phonology. Dordrecht: Foris.
• Rizzi, L. 1986. Null Objects in Italian and the Theory of pro. Linguistic Inquiry 17, 501-557.
• Spencer, A. 1991. Morphological Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Zwicky, A. 1977. Discourse and Logical Form. Linguistic Inquiry 8-1, 101-139.
• Zwicky, A. & Pullum, G. 1983. Cliticization vs. Inflection: English n't. Language 59, 509-513.