Clitics

Abstract

AbstractAn affix is a term in a morphological system which is applied to lexical stems from one (or perhaps a small number of) word classes. In contrast, a clitic is an independent element which can attach to lexical stems from a wide range of word classes (often from every one). It cannot occur alone but must be linked to a lexical element (with which it may or may not be grammatically associated). Dyirbal has two varieties of enclitic. There are six ‘second position clitics’, which attach to the end of the first phonological word of a clause. One marks a question, another that a statement is definitely true, a third that there is an element of doubt. And there are three ‘floating clitics’, which may follow any word at any position in the sentence. Two indicate ‘only, just’ and ‘as well, too’. The final section of the chapter considers the enigmatic form - (a)rru, which has ten roles. Examining these, we suggest that four of them are homonymous affixes: ergative/instrumental allomorph, perlative case, etc. The remaining six are treated as instances of a floating enclitic =(a)rru meaning ‘another’ or ‘again’ or ‘too’.