80 cline

[!] formerly [t], and lateral [||] formerly []. coarticulations with clicks are
called click accompaniments.
(2) In early psycholinguistic experiments on speech perception and com-
prehension, a click refers to a burst of acoustic noise introduced extrane-
ously into one ear while the listener attends to speech in the other. For example,
it was thought that by varying the position of the click in relation to the
grammatical structure of the speech, information could be gained concern-
ing the way in which grammatical units are perceived and organized by the
brain. The experiments were generally inconclusive and are rarely cited as
evidence today.

cline (n.) A term used in Hallidayan linguistics to refer to a continuum of

potentially infinite gradation, e.g. the range of possible contrasts between fall-
ing and rising pitch levels, or the degrees of contrast capable of being drawn
along a time scale. Since its original use in scale-and-category grammar, the
term has come to be used in other fields than linguistics, often unnecessarily, as
a synonym for continuum.

clinical linguistics The application of linguistic theories, methods and descript-

ive findings to the analysis of medical conditions or settings involving a disorder
(or pathology) of language. This application involves the linguist working in
collaboration with speech pathologists/therapists, audiologists and others in
helping to assess, diagnose and remediate disorders of the production and
comprehension of spoken or written language disorders which may of course
occur in educational as well as clinical settings. The relevance of psycho-
linguistics, neurolinguistics and language acquisition studies to this end
is noteworthy. See also language pathology.

clipped form see abbreviation

clipping (n.) see abbreviation

clitic (n.) A term used in grammar to refer to a form which resembles a

word, but which cannot stand on its own as a normal utterance, being phono-
logically dependent upon a neighbouring word (its host) in a construction.
(The term clitic comes from the Greek word for leaning.) Examples of cliticized
forms are the contracted forms of be, such as Im and hes. The articles of
English, French, etc., are sometimes referred to as clitics: a form like the cannot
stand on its own in normal utterance, but it would be called a word none the
less by native-speakers. Such clitic words (clitics) can be classified into proclitics
(i.e. they depend upon a following word, as in the case of the articles) and enclitics
(i.e. they depend upon a preceding word, as in the attachment (cliticization) of
some pronouns to the end of a verb form in Italian or Spanish). The processes
are also referred to as proclisis and enclisis respectively. Clitic-climbing occurs
when a clitic moves from its local domain to a higher constituent, as in Italian
Maria lo vuole vedere (Maria wants to see him), where the lo has moved from
the infinitive to before the first verb. Clitic-doubling occurs when a clitic is used
despite the existence of an element with the same meaning and function in the
same clause, as in Spanish Maria me visito a mi (Maria visited me).