cliticsuffix

Cliticsuffix is a linguistic term for a bound morpheme that combines properties of clitics and suffixes. Morphologically it functions as a suffix, attaching to the end of a host word or stem; syntactically it behaves like a clitic, showing light phonology, fixed attachment sites, and dependency on a neighboring word rather than forming a larger word by itself. The dual status means it is affixal in form but clitic in function.

In languages with extensive cliticization, certain suffixal morphemes can behave like clitics in specific environments, and grammars may classify these as cliticsuffixes. A cliticsuffix tends to attach to the closest appropriate host word and may appear in enclitic or proclitic position relative to that host. It often interacts with prosodic structure, for example by remaining unstressed or by attracting clitic stress to the host's boundary. Functions typically cover person, number, mood, evidentiality, or definiteness, though the exact inventory varies.

The term is primarily discussed in theoretical morphology and typology, and is less common in descriptive grammars of natural languages. It can also be used in descriptions of constructed languages to illustrate how affixal and clitic categories can combine. In analysis, a cliticsuffix is treated as a bound morpheme that cannot stand alone and as a clitic that can attract the host's prosodic domain.

Example (illustrative): a hypothetical language may have a cliticsuffix -o that attaches to verbs to mark first-person singular agreement; phonology renders it light and clitic-like, and it may surface after the verb as an enclitic, without altering the base word's stress pattern.