enclíticos

Enclitics are unstressed words that are phonologically bound to a preceding word, forming a single prosodic unit. This means they are not spoken with their own stress and effectively attach to the word before them. In many languages, enclitics are pronouns, articles, or particles. For example, in Spanish, the object pronouns "me," "te," "lo," "la," "nos," "os," and "los," "las" become enclitics when attached to infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives, such as in "dame" (give me) where "me" is an enclitic to "da."

The grammatical function of enclitics can vary. They might express grammatical relationships like possession, case, or agreement. In some languages, enclitics can also indicate grammatical mood or aspect. The precise nature of the attachment can differ; sometimes it's a matter of spelling, while in other cases, it's purely a phonological phenomenon. The presence and behavior of enclitics are important features that distinguish languages and influence their prosodic patterns. Understanding enclitics is key to analyzing the structure and sound of many languages.