Typological parameters for the study of clitics, with special reference to Tariana

Abstract

The term ‘clitic’ typically refers to a morphological element which does not have the full set of properties of an independent (phonological) word, and which forms ‘a phonological unit with the word that precedes it or follows it’ (Matthews 1997: 56) for the purposes of accent or prominence assignment (see Nevis, Joseph, Wanner and Zwicky 1994: xii–xx). And they behave differently from affixes. Sapir (1930: 70) remarked that ‘enclisis is … neither true suffixation nor juxtaposition of independent elements. It has the external characteristics of the former (including strict adherence to certain principles of order), the inner feeling of the latter’. The consensus appears to be that clitics are morphemes which are prosodically deficient or unusual in certain ways. Criterial properties of clitics found in the literature invariably include that they are ‘loosely phonologically bound to a word’, or ‘occur in second position’ in a clause (Klavans 1985: 117), or ‘are phonologically deficient’. This chapter has two distinct parts. In § 1, I propose parameters which help distinguish clitics from affixes, determine the nature of their similarity to other morpheme types and define their independent properties in a given language. These criteria suggest a scalar, or continuum-type, approach – that is, some morphemes turn out to be more affix-like and others to be more word-like. (In the Appendix, these parameters are compared to those which have been proposed in the literature.)

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