What is the function of enclitics in a sentence?

Enclitics play a crucial role in the structure of a sentence by attaching themselves to another word to modify its meaning. This attachment allows the enclitic to influence or enhance the meaning of the host word, often providing additional grammatical or semantic context. For example, in Latin, enclitic pronouns can be used to indicate possession or to form questions, essentially changing how the associated word is interpreted within the sentence.

The other options fail to capture the unique function of enclitics. While subjects are typically represented by nominative case forms, enclitics do not assume the role of a subject. Enclitics also do not serve to indicate tense—this is usually done by verb conjugations. Lastly, although conjunctions serve to connect clauses or phrases, enclitics do not fulfill this grammatical function; they modify or clarify the meaning of a specific word instead. This distinction highlights the specific and nuanced role that enclitics play in language.