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Clitic climbing is a phenomenon first identified in Romance languages in which a pronominal object of an embedded infinitive appears attached to the matrix verb. Pronominal objects in Romance languages are typically expressed as clitics. The following Italian example illustrates the phenomenon. The object pronoun, lo, a clitic, is attached to the infinitive in the embedded or subordinate clause in (1a). In (1b), the clitic has "climbed" to the main or matrix clause and is attached to the matrix verb. There is no discernible difference in meaning between the two forms.
(1) a.Gianni
Gianni
vuole
wants
comprar=lo.
to.buy=it
Gianni vuole comprar=lo.
Gianni wants to.buy=it
"Gianni wants to buy it."
(1) b.Gianni
Gianni
lo=vuole
it=wants
comprare.
to.buy
Gianni lo=vuole comprare.
Gianni it=wants to.buy
"Gianni wants to buy it."
Clitic climbing is found in almost all Romance languages. It is notably absent in French.
Other language families
Austronesian
Tagalog
Clitic climbing is also found in Tagalog. As in the Italian example in (1) above, the embedded clause clitic, siya "her", in (2a) can optionally appear in the matrix clause as in (2b).
(2) a.S‹in›ubuk.an
‹PFV›try.PSV
ni
GEN
Juan
Juan
=ng
COMP
dalaw.in=siya.
visit.PSV=3SG.NOM
S‹in›ubuk.an ni Juan =ng dalaw.in=siya.
‹PFV›try.PSV GEN Juan COMP visit.PSV=3SG.NOM
"Juan tried to visit her." Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
(2) b.S‹in›ubuk.an=siya
‹PFV›try.PSV=3SG.NOM
ni
GEN
Juan
Juan
=ng
COMP
dalaw.in.
visit.PSV
S‹in›ubuk.an=siya ni Juan =ng dalaw.in.
‹PFV›try.PSV=3SG.NOM GEN Juan COMP visit.PSV
"Juan tried to visit her." Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Only clitics from embedded clauses in which the verb does not exhibit any aspectual morphology can climb to the matrix clause in Tagalog.
(3) a.S‹in›abi.∅
‹PFV›say.PSV
ni
GEN
Juan
Juan
na
COMP
d‹in›alaw.∅=siya
‹PFV›visit.PSV=3SG.NOM
ni
GEN
Pedro.
Pedro
S‹in›abi.∅ ni Juan na d‹in›alaw.∅=siya ni Pedro.
‹PFV›say.PSV GEN Juan COMP ‹PFV›visit.PSV=3SG.NOM GEN Pedro
"Juan said that Pedro visited her."
(or "Juan said that she was visited by Pedro.") Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
*
S‹in›abi.∅=siya
‹PFV›say.PSV=3SG.NOM
ni
GEN
Juan
Juan
na
COMP
d‹in›alaw.∅
‹PFV›visit.PSV
ni
GEN
Pedro.
Pedro
* S‹in›abi.∅=siya ni Juan na d‹in›alaw.∅ ni Pedro.
{} ‹PFV›say.PSV=3SG.NOM GEN Juan COMP ‹PFV›visit.PSV GEN Pedro
"Juan said that Pedro visited her."
(or "Juan said that she was visited by Pedro.") Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
So, the sentence in (2b) is grammatical because the embedded verb, dalawin "to be visited", is not marked for any aspect, whereas the sentence in (3b) is ungrammatical because clitic climbing has occurred out of the embedded clause in which the verb, dinalaw "was visited", is marked for the perfective aspect.
References
- Rizzi, Luigi. 1978. A Restructuring Rule in Italian Syntax. In Recent Transformational Studies in European Languages, ed. Samuel J. Keyser, 113-158. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.