proclítico

A proclítico is a type of clitic in linguistics that attaches to the word preceding it and is pronounced before that host word, forming a single phonological word. This contrasts with enclitic clitics, which attach to the word that follows and are pronounced after the host.

Proclitics are common with function words such as pronouns, articles, or negation particles, and they typically depend phonologically on the host word rather than standing alone. Their placement is governed by prosodic and syntactic considerations, and it can affect sentence rhythm and stress patterns. In some languages, clitic position can vary by tense, mood, or the presence of other clitics, leading to alternations between proclitic and non-proclitic (or enclitic) forms.

In practice, many Romance languages use proclitic pronouns with the verb. For example, in Spanish, pronouns like me, te, lo often precede the finite verb in neutral clauses: “Me dijo la verdad” (he told me the truth) or “Te lo doy” (I give it to you). By contrast, when clitics attach after the verb, they are functioning as enclitics, as in forms where pronouns appear attached to the end of a verb stem in certain constructs.

Cross-linguistically, proclitics also appear in other languages, such as French, where the negative particle ne can be placed before the verb as a proclitic in negative constructions (often written as n’ before a vowel). The exact behavior and allowable shapes of proclitics vary by language, but the core idea is a clitic that leans on the preceding word for its phonological and prosodic realization.