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Grammar pedants - help please.

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GlennR Jul 2020 9:28am, 16 Jul 2020 51,157 posts	Quote Pin GlennR The ability of linguists to write utter bollocks never ceases to astound me. The only useful part is the Latin example. Instead of Livia et Marcus (Livia and Marcus) one could write Liviaque Marcus. That's a clitic, although it's also lousy Latin I suspect.
sallykate Jul 2020 10:18am, 16 Jul 2020 6,755 posts	Quote Pin sallykate Senatus Populusque Romanus is the only example I remember.
Northern Exile Jul 2020 10:28am, 16 Jul 2020 6,595 posts	Quote Pin Northern Exile Glenn, spot on mate. I've written some proper bollocks in my time
ChrisHB Jul 2020 10:34am, 16 Jul 2020 19,532 posts	Quote Pin ChrisHB Livia Marcusque, Glenn.
ChrisHB Jul 2020 10:42am, 16 Jul 2020 19,533 posts	Quote Pin ChrisHB My problem with clitics isn't roughly understanding what they are, but with duolingo's idea of introducing them all at once. Back at school we learned about one per week in French, with (in my case) total success. Italian is harder by far, with CI meaning here/there or us, SI being spelled SE depending on the surrounding words, and other variations that I've not yet found an explanation for, let alone grasped.
ChrisHB Jul 2020 10:44am, 16 Jul 2020 19,534 posts	Quote Pin ChrisHB But my question here is when the concept was invented. Presumably if Michael Gove had known about them, they would be on the primary school syllabus to this day.
GlennR Jul 2020 10:44am, 16 Jul 2020 51,165 posts	Quote Pin GlennR Ah yes Chris. I knew I was bungling it. Clitics don't come up on the Spanish Duo, IIRC, and I've checked the assorted Spanish grammar texts to my left and not one of them has it in the index. Big deal in Portuguese though.
Cerrertonia Jul 2020 11:42am, 16 Jul 2020 12,918 posts	Quote Pin Cerrertonia First scholarly reference to clitics I can see is late 1940s.
ChrisHB Jul 2020 7:38pm, 16 Jul 2020 19,537 posts	Quote Pin ChrisHB Then I wonder whether they were omitted from my one term of linguistics in about 1974 or if I slept through that part.
Columba Jul 2020 9:53pm, 17 Jul 2020 20,019 posts	Quote Pin Columba I don't think I have ever heard of clitics before. I could do with a few more examples, additional to the Latin -que one.