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Overview of the Frisian clitics

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This topic provides an overview of the Frisian clitics.

Personal pronouns
See Personal pronoun clitics.

Articles

Table 1

Full form	Clitic allomorph
de /də/ the (common gender)	d' /də/ ( [də])
	'e [ə]
it [ət] the (neuter gender)	't /ət/ ( [ət])
in [ən] a(n)	'n /ən/ ( [ən])

Having schwa as their only vowel, all articles are inherent clitics. As to this, however, a further subdivision is called for:

since a word a) must not have schwa as its only vowel and b) must not begin with schwa, the forms it /ət/ and in /ən/ (and 't /ət/ ( [ət]) and 'n /ən/ ( [ən]) as well) are forced to find a host word, ideally on their left-hand side;
de /də/, it /ət/, and in /ən/, however, can occur in sentence-initial position; this also holds for their reduced variants d' /də/ ( [də]), 't /ət/ ( [ət]), and 'n /ən/ ( [ən]), though they sound a little unfamiliar there;
'e /ə/ is not allowed to occur in sentence-initial position.

That de /də/, it /ət/, and in /ən/ can occur in more positions than 'e /ə/ is likely to be ascribable to the fact that the former (also) contain a consonant, whereas the latter consists of no more than schwa (the minimal member of the vowel inventory, see Schwa). This is why 'e can be considered a purer clitic, viz. a phonologically speaking more dependent form, than de, it, and in.

There is a small class of function words which begin with the voiced coronal plosive /d/ (henceforth: /d/-words). Some of these are also members of the clitic classes I and II above. The following is an overview of these words.

Definite article
Table 2

de /də/ the

Demonstrative pronouns

Table 3

dat	/dɔt/	that
dy	/di/	that; those
dit	/dɪt/	this
dizze	/dɪzə/	this; these

Relative pronouns

Table 4

dat	/dɔt/	that, which; who, whom
datsto	/dɔt+st+do:/	that you; which you; whom you
datste	/dɔt+st+də/	that you; which you; whom you
datst	/dɔt+st/	that you; which you; whom you
dy't	/di+t/	that, which; who, whom
dy'tsto	/di+t+st+do:/	that you; which you; whom you
dy'tste	/di+t+st+də/	that you; which you; whom you
dy'tst	/di+t+st/	that you; which you; whom you

Personal pronouns

Table 5

do	/do:/	you (subject form, sg., familiar)
dû	/du/	you (subject form, sg., familiar)
dy	/di/	you (object form, sg., familiar)
dij	/dɛj/	you (object form, sg., familiar)

Possessive pronouns

Table 6

dyn	/din/	your
dines	/dinəs/	yours
dinen	/dinən/	yours
dinent	/dinənt/	yours

Adverbs

Table 7

der	/dər/	there (in existential constructions); as part of a pronominal adverb
dêr	/dɛ:r/	there; as part of a pronominal adverb
dus	/døs/	so therefore then
dan	/dɔn/	then (referring to the future)
doe	/du/	then (referring to the past)
doch(s)	/dɔx(s)/	nevertheless, still, yet, all the same

Usually, word-initial /d/ triggers regressive voice assimilation of a preceding (voiceless) obstruent (see Regressive Voice Assimilation: type 1 and Regressive Voice Assimuilation: type 2). This also holds of the /d/ of the /d/-words. However, if the latter are preceded by (a word ending in) a voiceless plosive, their initial /d/ may show up as voiceless or, put differently, it may undergo Progressive Voice Assimilation (see Progressive Voice Assimilation: function words beginning with /d/), examples of which are given below:

Table 8

a	with de the	Omdat de trein in oere fertraging hie because the train an hour delay had Because the train had a delay of an hour	[omdɔtə]	[*omdɔdə]
b	with der there	Ik begryp der wat langer wat minder fan I understand there what longer what less of I understand (it) less and less	[bəɡriptər]	[*bəɡribdər]
c	with dat that	Witst wol wat dat wurd betsjut? know.2SG all right what that word means Do you know what that word means?	[vɔtɔt]	[*vɔdɔt]
d	with dy that; you (object form, SG, familiar)	Ik wit net wat dy man besielet I know not what that man inspires I do not know what has come over that man	[vɔti]	[*vɔdi]
e	with do/dû you (subject form, SG, familiar)	Híést do/dû dat wier net sjoen? had you that really not seen Had you really not seen that?	[hiəsto:/u]	[*hiəzdo:/u]
f	with dit/dizze this	Hoe kómt dit no wer? how comes this now again How on earth díd this happen?	[komtɪt]	[*komdɪt]
		Wat dócht dizze man hjir? what does this man here What is this man dóing here?	[doxtɪzə]	[*doɣdɪzə]
g	with dêr there	It bliek dêr net mear te wêzen it appeared there no more to be It turned out that it was no longer there	[bliəktɛ:r]	[bliəɡdɛ:r]
h	with dus so therefore then	Ik begryp dus dat ... I understand so, that .... So I understand that ...	[bəɡriptøs]	[bəɡribdøs]
i	with dan then (referring to the future)	Mar wát dan? but what then And then what?	[vɔtɔn]	[*?vɔdɔn]
j	with doe then (referring to the past)	Hy griep doe de macht he seized then the power The seized power then	[ɡriəptu]	[ɡriəbdu]
k	with dochs nevertheless, still, yet, all the same	Mar Jaap dochs foaral? but Jaap nevertheless in particular But Jaap in particular, right?	[ja:ptɔxs]	[ja:bdɔxs]

extra

See Progressive Voice Assimilation: function words beginning with /d/ for more examples and also for examples of the behaviour of the /d/ of /d/-words following a voiceless fricative.

Progressive Voice Assimilation being a word-internal phenomenon, the above realizations with a voiceless plosive are readily explained if it is assumed that the /d/-words cliticize onto the plosive-final host word to their left.

References

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About this article

Author(s): Willem Visser

Category: Frisian Phonology

Keywords: cliticoverview

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Willem Visser	December 2015

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