ABSTRACT
Phonetic merging of a weakly stressed or unstressed word to the following word, as a rule with simultaneous phonetic weakening, cf. Fr. l’enfant ‘child.’ Proclitics are virtually non-existent in English. ( also enclitic)
Diachronic or synchronic loss of one or more speech sounds at the beginning of a word, cf. bishop<Grk episkopos. ( also aphesis)
A language in which an empty subject position that has been motivated by the projection principle and which has pronominal, i.e. referential, properties can appear in a finite sentence. Examples of such languages are Italian and Spanish, but not English, German, or French. For example, compare Italian [pro mangia] with English *[pro eats] for he eats. The pronoun he cannot be dropped in English.
