Wanna know what it coulda be...
Does anybody know what’s the lingustic term for the words like “wanna”, “gonna”, “outta”, “kinda” etc? Once I heard them being termed as “clitics” but I’m not sure if this term is really used in linguistic circles. So far I’ve come across the words like: gonna, wanna, outta, gotta, hefta (for “have to”), coulda, woulda, shoulda, needa, lotsa (”lot of”), kinda (”kind of”), betcha (”I bet you...”), gotcha (”got you”), supposta (”supposed to”) and also cuppa :) Any other ideas?
IHWANPRADIPTA
December 17, 2008, 12:04am
WOW...I DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT CLITIC.
I JUST REMEMBER THAT I'M THE STUDENT WHO TRY TO LOOKING FOR THE TRUTH...
OK...MAYBE SOMEBODY CAN HELP ME TO EXPLAIN ABOUT THAT. WHIT THE EXAMPLE WILL BE BETTER.
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mara (unregistered)
October 3, 2005, 7:44pm
They've been called "pronunciation spellings," but I'm not sure if linguists have another word for them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_spel...
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mike (unregistered)
October 6, 2005, 12:21am
Aren't they contractions, like "don't"?
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marta (unregistered)
October 7, 2005, 8:33am
well, I wouldn't say that these are contractions cos they don't use apostrophes typical of contracted words. and also 'cuppa' ,which means 'a cup', is not a contracted word but rather the opposite - an extended one by the use of '-a' suffix.
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cedric91709
October 7, 2005, 11:52am
gon·na ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gn)
Informal
Contraction of going to: We're gonna win today.
i copied that definition from www.dictionary.com. apparently, words don't need apostrophes to officially be called contractions. still, they are informal.
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Steve (unregistered)
October 10, 2005, 3:00pm
"and also 'cuppa' ,which means 'a cup', is not a contracted word but rather the opposite - an extended one by the use of '-a' suffix."
Cuppa means "cup of," not "a cup."
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lois (unregistered)
April 2, 2008, 12:42pm
Assimilation, I believe.
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JJMBallantyne
April 5, 2008, 8:31am
Wow!
Over two years since this thread got started again.
No matter.
Yes, words like "coulda" and "wanna" are contractions. Yes, they involve clitics.
Ultimately though, I'd suggest the correct linguistic term for these words is - "word."
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porsche
October 21, 2005, 12:29am
While very similar, these are not clitics. Clitics are words that can only be used in conjunction with other words.
the word 'em, as in I can see 'em now. or in French, the article l' as in l'amour. clitics are always used in combination with other words, but technically they are separate individual words.
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sexton.corey
January 31, 2008, 9:16am
It is colloquial I believe
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selfish (unregistered)
November 24, 2005, 6:41am
lol clit
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Fowlerfan (unregistered)
October 26, 2005, 9:00am
Disagree with porsche (a little).
All of the examples marta gave are indeed clitics, or more strictly 'enclitics'.
They are also all examples of the broader 'demotic' english (which includes the beloved 'innit', 'dunno', 'whassamatter' and friends).
In 'coulda' (= could have), the enclitic is the second element (-a = have) which is pronounced with so little emphasis that it merges with the preceding word.
The rarer 'proclitics' are evident in phrases such as 'at home'. In this case the 'at' merges with the stressed 'home' that follows it, sounding much like 'tome' in relaxed speech.
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porsche
October 26, 2005, 2:33pm
Yes, fowlerfan, I stand corrected. In any case, I think you would agree though, coulda is not a clitic, just the -a is the clitic.
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