Clitique

A clitic is, in Linguistique an element halfway between a independent Mot and a dependant Morphème. Many clitiques can be seen like derived from a historical process of grammaticalisation:

lexical element > clitic > affix

According to this model, an autonomous element Lexical located in a particular context will lose gradually certain properties of independent word to acquire those of a morphological Affixe. The element describes as “clitic” is thus to some extent an intermediate stage of this evolutionary process. This relatively broad definition can thus apply to a class of very heterogeneous elements.

A characteristic nevertheless shared by all the clitiques ones is their prosodic dependence . Clitique is indeed always prosodiquement related to an adjacent word, called host , so that it forms with this one only one complex phonetic unit. One speaks more precisely:

of proclitic when the clitique one is based on the word which follows it. E.g.: I in I know
enclitic when it is based on the word which precedes it. E.g.: I in will I know?

Orthographical conventions treat clitic multiple ways: some are written like separated words, of other like words distinct from their host, others still attached to their host but connected by an element of Ponctuation (indent, apostrophizes).

In French (and in the Romance Languages in general), the article S and the personal of direct object and indirect Pronoms are the clitiques ones.

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