Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 March 1999
I investigate a diverse set of Czech words of unclear prosodic status. The analysis reveals that while it is possible to make a clear distinction between proclitics and nonclitics, certain nonclitics are disposed to occasional clitic-like behavior. I propose to capture this fact by distinguishing between inherent clisis vs. derived clisis, the latter being sensitive to certain semantic, pragmatic, and prosodic conditions. This approach allows us to address the striking similarities in certain behaviors between clitics and nonclitics without ignoring their equally important differences.