Abstract
This thesis is a study of the clitic systems of a group of languages spoken in the Southeast of Mindanao—Tagakaulo, Kaagan, Mansaka, and Davawenyo. The main purposes of this study are to find out: (1) the placement of clitics in various syntactic structures; (2) the constraints determining of order inside the clitic cluster.
The issues of clitics are portrayed in a number of ways in this study. To begin, chapter 1 identifies what a clitic is. Based on the understanding of clitics given in that chapter, chapter 2 presents the voice system of Tagakaulo and the distribution of nominal expressions with various semantic roles in a clause. Then, the discussion turns to the distribution of nominal elements in diverse syntactic constructions. This sets up the basic understanding of how the Philippine voice system works. Next, the main concern in chapters 3 through 7 shifts to the placement of clitics outside of as well as inside the clitic cluster. Based on the knowledge that the distribution of DPs and clitics is different, clitic elements can be identified and then can be further analyzed to see their inner order relative to each other.
These languages share some similarities in clitic order. The most striking point is that phonological constraints are found in all of these systems. Clitics with more syllables follow those with fewer syllables. This is the dominant constraint in three of the four languages. In Tagakaulo various syntactic constraints, requiring pronouns to be ordered based on person and case features, is observed. Despite these differences, all four languages exhibit a mixture of syntactic and prosodic constraints in their ordering systems.
