Abstract
This paper seeks to point out the striking similarities which English and (Tokyo) Japanese show concerning the linguistic conditions on the prosodic compound formation process (PCFP). Based on the results of an original study of Japanese compound nouns (cf. Kubozono 1987, 1988, forthcoming), three types of conditions-semantic, branching and rhythmic-are proposed as linguistic factors that commonly constrain the prosodic process in the two languages. This suggests that languages may show a considerable similarity at the abstract level of speech production despite the differences in the phonetic effects of prosodic processes per se. It also suggests that (at least) some conditions on rules and processes are to be defined in the general linguistic theory rather than in the grammar of a specific language.
