Teodora Radeva-Bork: Single and double clitics in adult and child grammar

Abstract

Clitics have intrigued linguists for decades. By definition, they occupy an intermediate position between words and affixes (e.g., 's in English). They fulfill syntactic roles but do not carry stress and form a phonological unit with the preceding or following word. In Single and double clitics in adult and child grammar, Teodora Radeva-Bork presents fresh observations and new data on the topic. The main contribution of the work is empirical data on the acquisition of direct-object clitics and direct-object clitic doubling in Bulgarian. The book, however, makes important theoretical contributions to the understanding of these phenomena cross-linguistically.

While the intended audience of the book is scholars of syntax and first-language acquisition, the book is accessible also to non-experts. Chapter 1 provides a useful overview of the book, chapter 2 goes into depth in the definition of clitics and the evolution of theoretical thinking about them, and chapter 7 presents a bullet-point summary of the main arguments and findings. Extensive cross-referencing within and between chapters also contributes to the clarity and coherence of the work.