Re: Theory about the evolution of languages

J. 'Mach' Wust scripsit:

> Clitics are words that are phonetically melted with others, e.g. the
> present third person singular of to be's often cliticized. The 'Saxon
> genitive'-s is not a word phonetically melted with others; therefore, it's
> not a clitic, but rather an ending.
Clitics can also be endings that have come unmoored, as it were.  In
this case, "'s'" can find itself following almost any kind of word,
not just a noun.  H.L. Mencken collected the following example:

	That-there umbrella's the young lady I go with's.

The first "'s" is cliticized "is"; the second one is the Saxon genitive,
now attached to a preposition (!) and meaning, for the benefit of
all you furriners:

	That umbrella there belongs to (or is otherwise associated
	with) the young lady with whom I have a romantic association.

> >> _Onkel Dagoberts Millionen_ 'uncle Dagobert's millions'
> >> _die Millionen unseres Onkels Dagobert_ 'the millions of our uncle
> >> Dagobert'
I think this is simply apposition, and a noun in apposition to a
genitive, at least in the Germanic languages, is not itself genitive.
But there is no question of the -s being attached to anything but a
noun.

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