Article published in:
Formal Studies in Slovenian Syntax: In honor of Janez Orešnik
Edited by Franc Lanko Marušič and Rok Žaucer
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 236] 2016
► pp. 91–128

Clitics are/become Minimal(ist)

| Indiana University
This paper considers the general question of what properties distinguish clitics from other sorts of words. Focusing on South Slavic and in particular Slovenian data, it is argued that canonically clitics are minimal vocabulary items with respect to sound, meaning, and syntax: they lack (i) prosodic structure (above the syllable), (ii) semantic features (beyond the purely grammatical), and (iii) syntactic structure (above the head). For some items, however, departures from this canonical characterization exist, as do additional restrictions.
Published online: 08 December 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.236.05fra
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