enclitic
Word needing host
An enclitic is a word that attaches to the end of another word and can't stand alone with its own stress.
In English, contractions like 'll in she'll and 've in could've are enclitics—they lean on the preceding word for support.
The opposite is a proclitic, which attaches to the beginning.
Word-part modifier
- suffixWord-ending addition
- morphemeSmallest meaningful language unit
- particleMinute piece of matter
- boundSecured or destined
postposition · agglutination · inflection · conjugation · declension · contraction · auxiliary · possessive
Without rhythmic emphasis
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- elisionDropped sounds in speech
- reductionMaking something smaller
- schwaNeutral unstressed vowel
assimilation · liaison · phoneme · allophone · syllable · coda · vowel · consonant
Minute piece of matter
- postpositionWord placed after noun
- auxiliaryGiving additional support
- pronounNoun's grammatical replacement
- determinerNoun-introducing word class
conjunction · phrase · structure · agreement · case · modifier · construction · complement
affix
Word-part modifier
bound · postposition · agglutination · inflection · conjugation · declension · contraction · auxiliary · possessive · negation
unstressed
Without rhythmic emphasis
schwa · assimilation · liaison · phoneme · allophone · syllable · coda · vowel · consonant · contraction
particle
Minute piece of matter
- postpositionWord placed after noun
- auxiliaryGiving additional support
- pronounNoun's grammatical replacement
determiner · conjunction · phrase · structure · agreement · case · modifier · construction · complement · dependency