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    Subordination
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    Frisian words heading subordinate clauses usually show an ending /t/, written as 't. Examples are relative dy't who and interrogative wa't who. At first sight, the element 't seems to act as a morphological marker for subordination. Although it may function in that way, it may be presented more adequately as a clitic form representing the conjunctions dat that or oft whether.

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    [+]Basic facts

    Frisian conjunctions may exhibit an ending that superficially resembles a suffix. It is pronounced as [t], and written as <'t>. We only find it after conjunctions heading a subordinate clause, i.e. with the verb in final position. It occurs, for instance, in embedded interrogative sentences, as in wa't who or wêr't where, based on the interrogatives wa who and wêr where, which is illustrated in (1)-(2):

    1
    Ik wit wa't it die
    I know who-COMP it did
    I know who did it
    2
    Ik wit wêr't er wennet
    I know where-COMP he lives
    I know where he lives

    The element also turns up in relative clauses, as in forms like dy't who; which or dêr't (the latter often combined with a preposition), as is shown in (3)-(5):

    3
    de man dy't dêr wennet
    the man who-COMP there lives
    the man who lives there
    4
    it doarp dêr't er wennet
    the village where-COMP he lives
    the village where he lives
    5
    it hûs dêr't er yn wennet
    the house where-COMP he in lives
    the house in which he lives

    Finally, we see it with elements heading adjunct clauses, like adverbial doe't when or nei't after, as in (6)-(7):

    6
    Doe't er yn Ljouwert wenne, rekke er oan 'e drank
    when-COMP he in Leeuwarden lived, got he on the drink
    When he lived in Leeuwarden, he became an alcoholic
    7
    Nei't er dien krige hie, ferfear er nei Amsterdam
    after-COMP he done became had, moved he to Amsterdam
    After he got fired, he moved to Amsterdam
    [+]Analysis

    According to the criterion that the element 't cannot figure as an independent word, one would be inclined to consider it a suffix. However, as has been argued in the literature, it is probably better to analyze it as a clitic, a reduction of the conjunctions dat that or oft whether. One of the arguments for this position is the fact that 't sometimes varies with these full conjunctions, for instance wa't who next to wa oft who CONJ who, or nei't after next to neidat after-CONJ after that. One might also apply the well known test of reduction in conjoined phrases, as in (8)-(9):

    8
    a. Hy woe witte wannear oft en hoe oft ik dêr kaam bin
    he wanted know when COMP and how COMP I there come am
    He wanted to know when and how I have come there
    b. Hy woe witte wannear en hoe oft ik der kaam bin
    he wanted know when and how COMP I there come am
    He wanted to know when and how I have come there
    9
    a. Hy woe witte wannear't en hoe't ik dêr kaam bin
    he wanted know when-COMP and how-COMP I there come am
    He wanted to know when and how I have come there
    b. Hy woe witte wannear en hoe't ik der kaam bin
    he wanted know when and how-COMP I there come am
    He wanted to know when and how I have come there

    Affixes and clitics differ in that only the latter are open to reduction. We see in (8)-(9) that both oft and 't may be reduced. Hence, it might be better to interpret the element 't as a syntactic phenomenon. More information can therefore be obtained in this syntactic topic, or the one on interrogatives.

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    Literature

    Brouwer (1959) calls attention to the tendency that the use of 't is increasing. A more extensive overview of the historical development is presented by Van der Woude (1960). (Dijkstra et al. 2017) offer figures on the rise and the recent decline of 't on the basis of trancriptions of radio broadcasts. They assume that Dutch influence is the reason for the decline.

    Van Coetsem (1960) offers data from other Germanic varieties on similar phenomena. A publication in the same spirit is Van der Meer (1991), who also claims that 't is a clitic variant of the conjunction dat that. He also gives an analysis from a functional perspective, interpreting 't as a finite subclause introducer. The most extensive synchronic description of the distribution of 't can be found in the (unfortunately unpublished) paper of Hoekstra (1993), who also provides an in-depth analysis in generative terms, using the split CP hypothesis. An earlier generative analysis can be found in Reuland (1978).

    References
    • Brouwer, J.H1959Mei té of sûnder téDe Pompeblêdden5062-64
    • Coetsem, Fr. van1960De Friese relativa en conjuncties met tFryske stúdzjes oanbean oan prof.dr. J.H. Brouwer op syn sechstichste jierdei 23 augustus 1960Van Gorcum327-334
    • Dijkstra, J., Heeringa, W., Yilmaz, E., Heuvel, H. van den, Leeuwen, D. van & Velde, H. Van de2017A real time study of contact-induced language change in Frisian relative pronounsBabatsouli, Elena (ed.)Proceedings of the International Symposium on Monolingual and Bilingual Speech113-119
    • Hoekstra, Jarich1993The Split CP Hypothesis and the Frisian Complementizer systemUnpublishedFryske AkademyLjouwert
    • Meer, Geart van der1991The subclause signal 't in Frisian: its origin and functionLeuvensche bijdragen op het gebied van de Germaansche philologie en in 't bijzonder van de Nederlandsche dialectkunde8043-59
    • Reuland , Eric1978Principles of subordination and construal in the grammar of DutchGroningenUniversity of GroningenThesis
    • Woude, G. van der1960Oer it gebrûk fan 't by bynwurdenFryske stúdzjes oanbean oan prof.dr. J.H. Brouwer op syn sechstichste jierdei 23 augustus 1960Van Gorcum335-343
    About this article
    Author(s): Siebren Dyk
    Category: Frisian Morphology
    Keywords: subordinationconjunctionclitic
    Version: 1.0, February 2017
    Version history:
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    1.0 Siebren Dyk February 2017
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