====== Clitics =======
**//Clitics//** are words attached to other words (//host//s) as affixes but playing role in syntax as separate elements. Examples of clitics in English are shortened verbs (//-'s// from //is//, //-'re// from //are//), particle //not// (becoming //-n't//), adverb //-like//. The main rules for recognizing clitics from affixes and compound words are:
  * they should not modify basic meaning of host words;
  * they can be written separately (but in the same order) without changing the sense of phrase;
  
See [[wp>clitic|Wikipedia article]] about clitics for more theoretical information.

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===== Clitics in Nûrlâm =====
Clitics play an important role in [[Nûrlâm]]'s [[grammar]] and [[syntax]]. They are written as one word with their hosts or separated by hyphen but usually translated into English as separate words. Typical lexical categories that often used as clitics are:
  * [[adpositions|Postpositions]] attached to nouns and pronouns as [[grammar_case|case]] suffixes and to verbs as derivational affixes.
  * Pronouns attached to verbs as suffixes or prefixes of [[grammar_person|person]].
  * [[grammar_adverb|Adverbs]] attached to verbs as suffixes of [[grammar_aspect|aspect]].
  * Short [[grammar_adjective|adjectives]], [[proform|pro-adjectives]] and [[pronouns#possessive_pronouns|possessive pronouns]] attached to noun without any grammar function but retaining [[syntax_determiner|determiner]] function in syntax. 
  * [[pronouns#demonstrative_pronouns|Demonstrative pronouns]] attached to [[grammar_noun|noun]] as definite articles. 
  * Definite article //-um// (however may be treated as particularizing suffix).

Only short single-syllable words become clitic.

Since clitics often pronounced separately in colloquial speech, and were used instead of proper [[suffix_inflectional|inflectional]] (grammatical) suffixes, they became one of main reasons of shifting from [[morphology#morphological_typology_of_nurlam|agglutinative]] to [[syntax_analytic|analytical]] style of language.

==== Concatenation vs. Separate spelling ====
{{page>include:concatenation}}