# Serbian (BCS) and other Slavic languages: "to" as a clitic in variable word order



## Petusek

Hello everyone!

My understanding of the Serbian clitic chain is that it usually comes after the first stressed word in a sentence in the following order:

1. BE.AUX (except 3sg pres)
2. PersPron.DAT
3. PersPron.ACC
4. /se/ (REFL)
5. /je/ (or /ju/) (BE.AUX.3sg pres)

My question is can other words, such as the dem. /*to*/ be used in the position of a clitic even though it's in the *nominative*?

Consider the following Czech sentences meaning "_It is white wine._" Bold means stressed:

(a) *To* je *bí*lé *ví*no.
(b) *Je* to *bí*lé *ví*no.

Is this, or something similar, possible in Serbian? Sure, the context of (a) and (b) is different. In (a), the demonstrative is emphasized, in (b) the only emphasis is placed on "bílé víno".

Please, any comments, further questions, opinions, ideas, complaints and the like, are welcome and highly appreciated! ;-)

Best,

P.


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## Vanja

Petusek said:


> (a) *To* je *bí*lé *ví*no.
> (b) *Je* to *bí*lé *ví*no.


(a)* To*2 je *belo/bijelo*1 vino (not the red one). 1 stressed stronger because it distinguishes the type (of wine), _to_ is stressed because it's 1) demonstrative (_That there_ is... )  2) at the beginning of the sentence and optional 3) to give a tone of determination (to [pause] je belo vino)

(b)(Je)* Jeste*1 to *belo*2 vino. (That is indeed a white wine). But sentences starting with BE.AUX are not often heard in everyday conversations, only when there is a need to stress that "something _is_ something".


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## Petusek

Vanja said:


> (a)* To*2 je *belo/bijelo*1 vino (not the red one). 1 stressed stronger because it distinguishes the type (of wine), _to_ is stressed because it's 1) demonstrative (_That there_ is... )  2) at the beginning of the sentence and optional 3) to give a tone of determination (to [pause] je belo vino)
> 
> (b)(Je)* Jeste*1 to *belo*2 vino. (That is indeed a white wine). But sentences starting with BE.AUX are not often heard in everyday conversations, only when there is a need to stress that "something _is_ something".



Thanks a lot, Vanja. Let me ask two more questions, if I may...

1) So, in (b) /*to*/ is an enclitic(-like), right? What if it meets with some other enclitics (the enclitics proper), how is its relative position determined?
2) In fact, in both (a) and (b) the verb *biti* is a *copula *rather than an auxiliary, right?

Best,

P.


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## Duya

(b) is not possible in Serbian -- verb _je_ is always* a clitic. If you need to emphasize the demonstrative or the object, you would need to modify your intonation:

_*To* je belo vino_. (It is water in the other bottle.)
_To je *belo* vino_. (The red wine is next to it.)
_To je belo *vino*_. (Not an apple juice.)

There is also the long (stressed) form of the verb, _jeste_, that can be placed more freely in the sentence.

_To *jeste* belo vino._/_*Jeste* to belo vino._  (Although you said it wasn't.)

*) It is not clitic only in collocation _Je li_, so one can start a sentence with it: _Je li to belo vino?_.


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## Duya

Petusek said:


> Thanks a lot, Vanja. Let me ask two more questions, if I may...
> 1) So, in (b) /*to*/ is an enclitic(-like), right? What if it meets with some other enclitics (the enclitics proper), how is its relative position determined?



No, *to* has lexical stress in both sentences. Actually, in a), it will become the anchor for the clitic: ['to:je 'be:lo 'vi:no].



Petusek said:


> 2) In fact, in both (a) and (b) the verb *biti* is a *copula *rather than an auxiliary, right?



Right.


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## Petusek

Duya said:


> No, *to* has lexical stress in both sentences. Actually, in a), it will become the anchor for the clitic: ['to:je 'be:lo 'vi:no].
> 
> 
> 
> Right.



Perfect, many thanks Duya, that's exactly the answer I needed! 

So, /*to*/ won't be clitical even after/before the full form /*jeste*/, will it? It'll still be stressed, though with less emphasis than the copula, right?

Once again, thanks a lot for your response!

Best,

P.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Since you asked about other Slavic languages...



Petusek said:


> Consider the following Czech sentences meaning "_It is white wine._" Bold means stressed:
> 
> (a) *To* je *bí*lé *ví*no.
> (b) *Je* to *bí*lé *ví*no.



In Slovenian:

*To* je *be*lo *vi*no. = "This is a white wine."

*Je* *to* *be*lo *vi*no? = The changed word order makes the sentence interrogative: "Is this a white wine?" However, *to* is still not a clitic.


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## Petusek

Thanks a lot, TriglavNationalPark! 

Is it possible to use the first (SVO) order in a question (so as to express surprise, for instance)? And, similarly, is it possible to have VSO in a declarative sentence?

Thanks again!

P.


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## Duya

Petusek said:


> So, /*to*/ won't be clitical even after/before the full form /*jeste*/, will it? It'll still be stressed, though with less emphasis than the copula, right?



I think (but I'm not sure, and there are probably exceptions), that our lexemes are either clitic or not, i.e. they do not alter from clitic to stressed and vice versa depending on the sentence. It is certainly possible for a word to obtain more or less lexical stress, and it is not always easy to analyse their status in rapid speech. Thus, *to* should be treated as always having a stress, and its syllable is even long (which is, by the way, not a criterion, there are clitics with long vowel, such as _je_ (=ona:nju, 'her') ).


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## TriglavNationalPark

Petusek said:


> Thanks a lot, TriglavNationalPark!
> 
> Is it possible to use the first (SVO) order in a question (so as to express surprise, for instance)? And, similarly, is it possible to have VSO in a declarative sentence?
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> P.



Yes, you can use the first (SVO) word order as a question (to express surprise) by changing the stress. However, the second word order (VSO) cannot be used as a declarative sentence; the word order invariably marks it as a question.


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