A computational model of the Spanish clitic system

Abstract

In this paper a computational model of the Spanish clitic system is presented. In this model clitic pronouns receive a dual analysis in which enclitics are considered inflexions while most proclitics are considered independent lexical units, hence proper clitics. The model covers the analysis of simple periphrases that, in addition to auxiliary and modals, have a single content verb (e.g. puede comérselo, se lo ha querido comer) and also the analysis of complex periphrases with more than one content verb (e.g. le hubiera visto comérsela, se la hubiera visto comer). The model introduces three operations on clictis: cancellation, composition and subsumption, and is formalized in Head-driven Phrase Structured Grammar; the standard machinery of this theory is extended with one combination scheme, the head-proclitic rule, and one principle, the clitic principle, that is satisfied by Spanish clitic sentences. A computational implementation of the theory with the Linguistic Knowledge Building (LKB) tool is also reported. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.