Clitic doubling

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Clitic doubling, or pronominal reduplication, in linguistics, 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, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek, Persian, Romanian, Somali, and Spanish; in each case, it follows different rules.

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. ^[1]

[edit] Clitic doubling in Spanish

Spanish is one well-known example of clitic-doubling language. 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:

In such constructions, the indirect object can be expressed both as a full noun phrase and as a clitic:

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 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 a matter of style.

(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.

Without the lo, ese regalo might be understood as the subject of the sentence.

[edit] Notes

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)