Prosodic structure between the prosodic word and the phonological phrase: Recursive nodes or an independent domain?

In this article, a prosodic domain located between the prosodic word and the phonological phrase is argued for (the prosodic word group – PWG). This constituent groups the members of several types of compound-like expressions, but does not play a special part in the prosodic organization of clitics, and thus is argued to be (partially) distinct from the old clitic group (Hayes 1989; Nespor and Vogel 1986). The PWG is shown to play a role in the phonology of compound-like expressions in a great number of languages, belonging to different linguistic families. Evidence is multifarious, coming from segmental, tonal, duration and prominence related phenomena. Crucially, evidence is also offered against an analysis resorting to recursive prosodic words – e.g., prominence patterns at the levels of the Prosodic Word (PW) and PWG may be reversed; phonological phenomena distinguishing the two domains show a difference in kind and not just in strength (Ladd 1996/2008; Frota 2000).