Clitic: clitic
| Values: | Yes |
Boolean feature. Is this a clitic written together with the previous word?
Yes: it is abbreviation
Examples
- Ngarrkarna nyangu “I saw a man” (lit. man(ABS)-1SG(SUBJ) see-PAST)
A Warlpiri clause normally contains an auxiliary that specifies the tense or aspect and cross-references the person and number of the subject and object. The cross-referencing (agreement) morphemes are really agreement markers and parts of the auxiliary rather than pronouns. They may occur together with real pronouns, as the 1SG subject marker rna in
- Ngaju karna purlami. “I am shouting.” (lit. I-ABS PRES-1SG(SUBJ) shout-NONPAST)
- Ngajulurlu karnangku nyuntu nyanyi. “I see you.” (lit. I-ERG PRES-1SG(SUBJ)-2SG(OBJ) you(SG.ABS) see-NONPAST)
In the above examples, the stem ka encodes the present tense. However, for the perfect aspect, the stem of the auxiliary is empty and the subject agreement marker then attaches as a clitic to the first word of the clause:
- Ngajulurlurna yankirri panturnu, ngapa ngarninjakurra. “I speared the emu while it was drinking water.” (lit. I-ERG-1SG(SUBJ) emu(ABS) spear-PAST water(ABS) drink-INF-while)
- Ngarrkarna nyangu wawirri pantirninjakurra. “I saw a man spear a kangaroo.” (lit. man(ABS)-1SG(SUBJ) see-PAST kangaroo(ABS) spear-INF-while)
In these cases we split the clitic off the host word, give it its own node in the dependency
structure, and mark it with the feature Clitic=Yes.
Clitic in other languages: [cpg] [fi] [gl] [it] [kpv] [krl] [mdf] [myv] [olo] [orv] [pl] [quc] [sms] [vep] [wbp] [yrl]