cliticizing
/ˈklɪtɪsaɪzɪŋ/
verb
- The act of attaching a clitic to a word, or the process of treating a word as a clitic.
- The linguist explained the rules for cliticizing pronouns in French.
- When cliticizing 'have' to 'we', you get 'we've', which flows more naturally in speech.
- Cliticizing 'is' to 'it' produces the common contraction 'it's'.
Synonyms
adjective
- That attaches a clitic; relating to the process of forming clitics.
- Some languages have cliticizing particles that attach to the end of verbs.
- The cliticizing suffix '-n't' turns 'do' into 'don't'.
- The cliticizing behavior of 'em' in English shows how informal speech shortens words.