Tracing Language Contact. Parameter Hierarchies and Torlak Clitic Doubling

Abstract

This article examines clitic doubling (CD) in Torlak, an ancient variety of Štokavian (South Slavic) that has not undergone the accent shift typical of Neo-Štokavian (cf. Vuković – Escher – Sonnenhauser 2022), exhibiting at the same time numerous phenomena due to language contact. Building on previous theoretical and descriptive studies (in particular Runić 2014 and Milosavljević – Živojinović in press), this work proposes a new interpretation of microvariation in RC patterns in the different subvarieties of Torlak in the light of parametric hierarchies (Roberts – Holmberg 2010; Roberts 2012; 2019; Ledgeway et al. 2025). The analysis shows that dialects spoken in Vranje, Trgovište, and Preševo have an RC exclusively linked to specificity—as in Macedonian—while others, such as those spoken in Jablanica, Timok, Žitorađa, and Niš, show additional licensing conditions, indicating further internal development after linguistic contact. This approach allows for a formal comparison with the Neo-Štokavian BCMS and reinforces the hypothesis of an interpretation of clitic doubling in the Torlak continuum as a result of linguistic contact.