Phonological Trochaic Grouping in Language Planning and Language Change

Abstract

Function words tend to cliticize onto lexical words which are themselves phonological words. Is there a preference for leftwards or rightwards attachment? Does this cliticization lead to recursive phonological words? Do simple compounds consisting of two phonological words constitute phonological words themselves? Grouping and prosodic units are our main concerns in this paper and we provide synchronic analyses, diachronic data and psycholinguistic evidence in support of trochaic grouping and leftwards attachment. We will first present a brief survey of phonological and accentual processes operating on cliticized versus compound-like constructions in English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and Bengali. We then provide psycholinguistic evidence suggesting that the latencies in language planning and production operate on the level of phonological words which may constitute independent lexical words, function words cliticized leftwards, stressed function words, as well as compounds.