Clitic clusters - A view from post-syntactic morphology

Abstract

This paper discusses some interesting phenomena in clitic cluster formations with emphasis on Standard Spanish and Latin American dialects of Spanish which pose problems for a purely syntactic approach to clitic cluster formation.
There is a model which provides a principled account for these effects, namely Distributed Morphology (Halle&Marantz 1993,1994). Section 2 provides a short introduction to this model and how it accounts for the relevant phenomena.
Furthermore this account will be taken over for further phenomena which have been previously accounted for in Syntax with additional syntactic assumptions (Lema&Rivero's (1989) Long-Head-Movement-Account for European Portuguese and Old Spanish "infix clitics"). Proposing a DM account for these effects allows assumptions about syntax to be simplified.