ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the prosodic solution to distinguish words from phrases in Chinese. This chapter first proposes a multidimensional analyses of words in Chinese, namely, syllable words, syntactic words, phrasal words and prosodic words. Then it proposes that prosodic words serve as the intermediate units between words and phrases and that prosodic words constitute the pivot (as an independent unit) between syntax, morphology and prosody. In this way, the study of the interface phenomena between words and phrases is undertaken in terms of prosody. After that, this chapter has discussed the natural foot, on the basis of which prosodic words are developed, and how it is derived in Chinese. Finally, it shows us the historical origin of the disyllabic foot in Chinese.
