Research in Western Iranian Languages and Dialects
Year:2019 | Volume:7 | Issue:24 |Papers Count:6

The purpose of this paper is to study some of the most important phonological processes in the Boroujerdi dialect of Lori's language. To understand how changes are made for readers not familiar with the dialect، we compare the research data with the standard Persian language. The data used in the research are derived from the words، sentences and phrases of conversations used by the informants. Data are transcribed based on the IPA International alphabet. This research uses a descriptive-analytic method to describe and explain some phonological processes in the dialect in a generative phonology framework and also on the basis of the optimality theory. Processes such as assimilation، dissimilation، weakening، elision، and metathesis will be studied. The results indicate that there is no fortition process in the dialect، but many processes related to assimilation and lenition.

In the present descriptive-analytical study، the researchers investigate vowel shortening process in Central Kurdish based on the principles and methods of optimality phonology. Data analysis indicates that this process along with glide formation is used as strategies to resolve the hiatus of two vowels by speakers of Central Kurdish. Thus، the long vowels at the end of the word having two temporal and bimoraic positions are shortened when they are before suffixes ending in a vowel and thus one of their moras is released; in the glide formation process it belongs to a glide filling the position of the onset of the following syllable. Thus، the aforementioned process is conducted to preserve the temporal positions. This indicates that in Central Kurdish، the consonants of syllable onsets are moraic. Moreover، after determining the limitations involved in the formation of this process and clarifying their hierarchy، the optimal analysis of the data indicated that in Central Kurdish، the glide formation through shortening long vowels takes less attempt in comparison to other processes that are normally adopted to resolve hiatus including adding a glide، deleting a vowel، contracting two vowels، compounding a vowel، etc.

In more than two decades، the conclusion that any verb phrase is made up of two projections، vP or voiceP and VP، has become standard among Chomskyan linguists. Recent studies، using split-vP hypothesis، however، suggest that VP can be decomposed into three layers: vP، voiceP and VP. In this hypothesis، voice is different from v: v represents the type of event، such as the causative event. On the other hand، voice introduces the external argument. VP is a projection in which the head is an acategorial root which can be categorized via its movement to v. Interaction of the causative morpheme and light verbs، in addition to introducing the external argument in complex predicates، in Persian، are some examples that challenge the bipartite verb phrase. This research aims to show، by studying causative constructions، that Persian verb phrases are tripartite، in which voice and v are different and independent.

Languages make use of three mechanisms to code grammatical relations: word order، case marking، and agreement. In the present study، an attempt is made to investigate agreement and the factors affecting agreement in Ilami Kurdish. To achieve this goal، Givon (2004) and Dabirmoghadam (1392) were adopted as the theoretical framework. The data were derived from interviews with native speakers using targeted questions. Results indicated that in Ilami Kurdish، 'nominative-accusative' agreement mechanism is employed as the main tool to signal grammatical relations. Also، it was proved that agreement system in the investigated language is not tense/ transitivity-sensitive. Another finding is that agreement is the main tool to code subject. However، using agreement to code object is both optional and affected by some factors including '(in)definiteness'، being (non)referential'، '(non)topical'، and '(un)incorporated'. While، these factors were found to have some repercussions for coding objects، they are، however، irrelevant in coding subjects in Ilami Kurdish. Finally، it was found that factors including 'grammatical aspect' and 'semantic roles' of subject and object have no implications for agreement in Ilami Kurdish.

There are two competing views with respect to the tonal structure of Persian pitch accents. According to the first view، peak delay in Persian intonational grammar serves no phonological or contrastive function. This view assumes that the earlier or later peak alignment in Persian does not lead to contrasts in intonational meanings. As such، pitch accents in Persian are phonologically characterized as either L+H* or L*+H. According to the second view، it is assumed that both L+H* and L*+H exist in Persian intonational phonology، but they act at different layers of Persian prosodic structure: L+H* operates at the level of phonological word، while L*+H functions at the level of enclitic group. The present study addressed the phonetic behavior of Persian pitch accents in different prosodic contexts. The phonetic evidence found in this research shows that the tonal structure of Persian includes only one pitch accent، namely L*+H، whose peak (H tone) is realized with magnitude degrees of late alignment from no delay to long delay according to peak alignment continuum.

Compression is one of the key concepts in Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner، 2002) which as part of Cognitive Semantics seeks to render a general model for meaning construction. Compression helps human beings to perceive diffused consequent chains and logical reasonings. This study aims to analyze the hows and whys of compression in the light of CBT، in "Dancing in Dust"، an Iranian film by Asqar Farhadi (1381). Outcomes reveal among the outer space vital relations، the representation is used more frequently than others and the rest of them like analogy، change، cause-effect، part-whole، time، disanalogy، and place consequently follow it. These relations are compressed in the blended space converting to inner space vital relations as uniqueness، identity، analogical time، category، and property. Besides، findings unveil the insufficiency of CBT in disclosing the temporal consequence of narration in the genre of film، although in grasping sophisticated ideas it is efficient.