I've been away from FLExTrans for a few months while I did text analysis on the target lg. In the process, I redefined the grammar and phonological rules quite extensively. As a result, I am now presented with the following problem I am unsure how to solve.
In the source lg I have a specification suffix that can attach to a noun, an adjective or an adverb. In the original analysis in the target lg, I had the same analysis. But I have encountered some issues. In the source lg, the specification suffix fits in the noun affix template nicely. But in the target lg, specification can attach AFTER the plural clitic (both source & target have a plural clitic, but specification never occurs on the surface with the plural clitic). So I have to call specification in the target lg a clitic, because a suffix cannot attach after a clitic.
My question is how do I handle this in the transfer rules?
SOURCE LG:
numanoa
numa-na-a
house-3s.POSS-SPEC
'the house of his'
numadingdi (no specification ever occurs with the plural clitic)
numa-dinga=di
house-3p.POSS=PL
'their houses'
TARGET LG:
numano
numa-na=o
house-3s.POSS=SPEC
'the house of his'
numajingjua
numa-jinga=ji=o
house-3p.POSS=PL=SPEC
Is it best just to re-analyze the suffix in the source lg as a clitic? I have another marker, a question marker -ta that only ever occurs on nouns, that comes after the specification slot in the source lg. If I re-define specification as a clitic, I suppose I would also have to re-define the question marker as a clitic as well.
baru namuxintadi
baru namux-na-ta=di
what reason-3s.POSS-QUES=PL
'what reasons'
