Serbo-croatian second position clitic placement and the phonology-syntax interface

The analysis of Serbo-Croatian (SC) second position clitic placement has been the source of much controversy in generative linguistics. The most important point of disagreement among competing analyses of this phenomenon has been the extent to which the various components of the grammar—syntax, morphology, phonology—are implicated in determining the position of the relevant clitics, and the type of interaction among these components that is required. It will not be the goal of the present paper to make specific detailed proposals concerning all aspects of a comprehensive account of the facts. Rather, my aim is first to clarify the empirical data that must be explained and the theoretical questions on which they bear, and second to argue for a specific class of solutions to the problems raised. In particular, I will show that neither the relative linear positions of clitics within the clitic cluster nor the position of this cluster in a clause can be completely determined by the syntax, although the syntax does have a crucial role to play in at least the latter problem. Rather, I will argue that the relative order of the clitics must be determined by the morphology, and that the position of the clitic cluster is subject to purely