Endoclitics and the Origins of Udi Morphosyntax

Abstract Endoclitics and the Origins of Udi Morphosyntax provides a synchronic description and analysis of a phenomenon that appears to be unique among languages that have been brought to the attention of linguists, namely the occurrence of endoclitics. Alice Harris demonstrates that syntactic rules must have access to the internal structure of the word. The early chapters of the book show that the morphemes at issue are clitics (as opposed to affixes), that the items inside which they may occur are words (as opposed to phrases), and that the clitics occur inside these words under specifiable conditions. The second part of the book describes how Udi came to be so different from other languages, and in doing so explains the origins of the phenomenon explored in the first part. The book will appeal to theoretical linguists, especially those interested in the interface between syntax and morphology. It will also be of considerable interest to historical linguists and students of Caucasian languages.