Clitic doubling

In linguistics, clitic doubling, or pronominal reduplication is a phenomenon by which clitic pronouns appear in verb phrases together with the full noun phrases that they refer to (as opposed to the cases where such pronouns and full noun phrases are in complementary distribution).

Clitic doubling is found in many languages, including Albanian, Aromanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Degema, Greek, Persian, Romanian, Somali, Italian, and Spanish.

The conditions on clitic doubling vary from language to language, generally depending on well-known properties of the objects along the Animacy Hierarchy (allowing, requiring, or forbidding clitic-doubling for different kinds of objects). In this regard, clitic doubling for objects can be viewed as a species of Differential Object Marking.

Spanish

Spanish is one well-known example of clitic-doubling language, having clitic doubling for both direct and indirect objects. Because standard Spanish grammatical structure does not draw a clear distinction between an indirect object and a direct object referring to a person or another animate entity (see Spanish prepositions), it is common but not compulsory to use clitic doubling to clarify. Compare:

Conocí a Juan. "I met Juan." (Direct object: a Juan)

Di un regalo a Juan. "I gave a gift to Juan." (Direct object: un regalo; indirect object: a Juan)

In such constructions, the indirect object can be expressed both as a full noun phrase and as a clitic in order to note that the noun phrase beginning with a (to) should be understood as an indirect object:

Le di un regalo a mi madre. "I gave my mother a gift."

A mis invitados siempre les ofrezco café. "I always offer coffee to my guests."

No les des comida a los animales. "Do not give food to the animals."

The above, if literally translated into English, would be redundant:

Le	di	un	regalo	a	mi	madre
To her	I gave	a	gift	to	my	mother

A	mis	invitados	siempre	les	ofrezco	café
to	my	guests	always	to them	I offer	coffee

No	les	des	comida	a	los	animales
not	to them	give	food	to	the	animals

This usage is highly preferred for many verbs, but for some verbs it is not compulsory, and it would also be valid to say: "Siempre ofrezco café a mis invitados", without clitic doubling.

Similarly, the direct object may also be doubled, with both the direct object pronoun and the full noun phrase, but this is not as common as indirect clitic doubling and is usually influenced by definiteness, animacy, and specificity.

(Lo) vi a tu papá en la tienda. "I saw your dad at the store."

El otro día (la) conocí a su esposa. "The other day I met his wife."

One particular use is to clarify emphatic structures:

Ese regalo se lo di a él. "I gave him that gift."

Italian

Clitic doubling is used as colloquial pleonasm, although it is considered incorrect by some.

Example: a me mi pare di sì ("I [personally, for what I am concerned] think so")

Iloko

In Iloko, a third person pronoun must co-occur with the full noun phrase to which it refers when 1) the noun phrase is the agent of a transitive verb and a pronoun is the patient, or when 2) the noun phrase is the possessor and a pronoun is the thing possessed. The appropriate fused personal pronoun is used and the number of its third person component must agree with the noun phrase.

Examples:

Nakita ni Maria ni Juan.
Maria saw Juan.

Nakitana ni Juan.
She saw Juan.

BUT...
Nakitanaka ni Maria.
Maria saw you.
NOT *Nakitaka ni Maria.

Maria saw you.
Na-	kita	-naka	ni	Maria
Perf. ABIL	"see"	3s ERG + 2s ABS	ART	PROPER NOUN
saw		she=you	Maria

NOT: *Nakitaak ni Maria.

Maria and John saw (the two of) us.
Na-	kita	-data	da	Maria	ken	ni	Juan
Perf. ABIL	"see"	3p ERG + 1d ABS	ART	PROPER NOUN	CONJ	ART	PROPER NOUN
saw		they=(two of) us	Maria and John

NOT: *Nakitaak da Maria ken ni Juan.

You are the Rizals' child.
Anak	-daka	dagiti	ag-	Rizal
"child"	3p ERG + 2s ABS	ART	KINSHIP	PROPER NOUN
child	their=you	the Rizal's

NOT: *Anakka dagiti Rizal.

Lombard

In Lombard, clitics are widely used with both nouns and pronouns.

Te gh'el diset ti a la Rina che l'è staa luu? Will you tell OR Would you mind telling Rina it was him [who did it]?

Te	gh'	el	diset	ti	a la Rina	che	l'	è	staa	luu?
You	to her	it	(you) tell	you	to Rina	that	it	has	been	he?

Venetian

In Venetian, clitics usually double the second singular person subject and third singular and plural subject.

The above, if literally translated into English, would be redundant:

I	mii	i	vien	doman
The (parents)	mine	they	come	tomorrow

'My parents come tomorrow'

Marco	el	Vien	doman
Marco	he	comes	tomorrow

'Marco comes tomorrow'

Ti	te/ti/tu	vien	doman
You	you	come	tomorrow

'You come tomorrow'

Interrogative subjects clitics double also other subjects. They attach to the verb:

Cantè-o	anca	voaltri/e ?
Sing-you	also	you (pl.m/f)

'Do you (pl.) sing as well?'

Accusative clitics double first and second singular/plural direct object

Te	go	visto	ti
you	(I) have	seen	you

In some varieties of the language, also dative clitics may double and indirect object, even of third person:

Marco	el	ghe	ga	dà	un libro	a Toni
Mark	he	to him	has	given	a book	to Tony

Macedonian and Bulgarian

In the standard Macedonian language, clitic doubling is obligatory with definite direct and indirect objects, which contrasts with standard Bulgarian where clitic doubling is optional. Non-standard dialects of Macedonian and Bulgarian have differing rules regarding clitic doubling.

Degema

Clitic doubling occurs in Degema, as it does in Romance and Slavic languages. However, clitic doubling in Degema is not associated with the presence of a preposition as in Romance languages like Spanish nor is it associated with topicality or specificity as in Slavic languages like Bulgarian. Rather, what make clitic doubling in Degema possible are syntactic (movement and anaphoricity) and discourse (emphasis and/or familiarity) factors (Kari 2003) Consider (1) below:

(1) Eni mo=sire

   elephant cl=run
  'An elephant is running'

In (1) the subject noun phrase (NP) 'Eni' is doubled by the clitic 'mo='. The clitic agrees in person, number and case with the doubled subject NP.

Example (2) shows that specific and non-specific subjects in Degema can be doubled by a clitic:

(2) Eni mo=rere (non-specific)

   elephant cl=walk
  'An elephant is walking'

   Eni      mee mo=rere              (specific)
   elephant my  cl=walk
  'My elephant is walking'

Example (3) shows that both topicalized and non-topicalized NPs in Degema can be doubled by a clitic:

(3) Okper o=kun esen (non-topicalized)

   Otter cl=catch.factative fish
  'An Otter caught a fish'

   Okper nu           o=kun              esen   (topicalized)
   Otter Focus marker cl=catch.factative fish
  'It was an Otter that caught a fish'

In Degema, the preposition does not feature in clitic doubling constructions in particular and in cliticization in general. Although there are object NPs such as indirect object NPs that can cooccur with a preposition, there are no corresponding object clitics to double them, unlike subject NPs.

Kari (2003: 135f) adds that "syntactic factors are stronger than discourse factors in the licensing of clitic doubling in Degema. Discourse factors only ensure the expression or suppression of the doubled NP after syntactic operations have taken place".

See also

• Resumptive pronoun

References

1. ^ Friedman, V. (1994) "Variation and Grammaticalization in the Development of Balkanisms" in CLS 30 Papers from the 30th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Volume 2. (Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society)
2. ^ Kari, Ethelbert Emmanuel. 2003. Clitics in Degema: A meeting point of phonology, morphology, and syntax. Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA). ISBN 4-87297-850-1.