Fortition in Persian Phonological System

Abstract

This study deals with fortition processes according to the theoretical framework of generative phonology to answer the cited questions: How phonological processes are applied in Persian phonological system as fortition? In other words, how do the data support the application of fortition processes in Persian? In which contexts do fortition processes apply in Persian? Synthetic process typology of phonological processes is investigated according to the phonological pattern of Persian; finally the most frequent fortition processes are selected. To see how these processes are applied in Persian as fortition, Standard Persian and four dialects out of twenty five dialects which show these processes are selected. The data are gathered in field study. Then, each of the fortition processes is probed on the Persian varieties to find the alternatives and underlying forms which are important to decide how the fortition processes are applied; and to find the positions in which fortition processes take place. The collected data support the fortition processes in Persian. The data show that the fortition processes tend to occur in inter-consonantal, pre-consonantal positions and morpheme, word and syllable initial positions. The data also show that word initial position has the highest frequency for fortition processes to occur. This support Kenstowichz’s idea that mentions word initial is the typical position for fortition.

Keywords: fortition processes, generative phonology, synthetic process typology, Persian phonological system