Phonological word
constituent in the phonological hierarchy, higher than the syllable and the foot but lower than intonational phrase and the phonological phrase; prosodic domain in which phonological features may spread from one morph to another
The phonological word, or prosodic word (commonly shortened to pword, PrWd, or symbolised as ω) is a unit in the phonological hierarchy of words. It is often larger than a syllable, but lower than an intonational phrase. A phonological word could be a bare root, a root and its affixes, or even in some cases a compound word.
Identification of prosodic words
Prosodic words can be identified by domain markers: non-linguistic or phonological signs that a speaker has reached the beginning or end of a prosodic word. Examples of domain markers could be word-final devoicing or vowel harmony.
In more formal terms, a prosodic word can be described as a prosodic domain in which phonological features within the same lexical unit may spread from one morpheme to another.
Functional words like adpositions tend to be phonologically weak, and, as a result, they often combine to become a part of a larger prosodic word with their lexical hosts. This is common cross-linguistically.
Prosodic words in sign languages
A prosodic word in sign languages can consist of a monosyllabic sign. A monosyllabic sign can be repeated, resulting in a larger prosodic word.
“Phonological word” enters the record as constituent in the phonological hierarchy, higher than the syllable and the foot but lower than intonational phrase and the phonological phrase; prosodic domain in which phonological features may spread from one morph to another. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Phonological, word and constituent can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Phonological word” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Phonological, word and constituent provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4117835. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Phonological word” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.