Gemination and clitic order in Czech : historical development and theoretical insights

Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F25%3A00144332" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/25:00144332 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
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DOI - Digital Object Identifier
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Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Gemination and clitic order in Czech : historical development and theoretical insights
Original language description
This corpus study investigates the ordering of the second person auxiliary "s" and the reflexive "se", which together form the cluster "se=s", in Czech. This ordering is puzzling, as Czech auxiliaries typically precede the reflexive, not the other way around. Building on Sedláček's (1994) insights, I propose that, rather than syntactic factors, this ordering is more likely influenced by a phonological constraint against geminates such as /ss/ in Present-Day Czech. This constraint was not active in earlier stages of the language, where the cluster was ordered as "s=se". I support this thesis by presenting the identical development in historical geminated /ss/ formed at the boundary between prefixes/prepositions and the following NP/VP (e.g., ssaditi "take down", s synem "with a son"). These geminates were resolved in the 19th century ("ssaditi" > "sesadit", etc.), just like the auxiliary=reflexive cluster ("s=se" --> "ses"). Finally, I offer a tentative formal analysis of this diachronic phenomenon couched in mixed approach, employing a mixed approach that combines the Minimalist Program and Optimality Theory (cf. Franks and King, 2000).
Czech name
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Czech description
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Project
<a href="/en/project/GF23-04856K" target="_blank" >GF23-04856K: The Behavior of Czech and Slovenian Clitics</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

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