The Effect of Phonological Context on Free Variation: A Case Study of Kalhori Kurdish Verbal Endings

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Linguistics, The Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

2 M.A. Degree, Department of English and Linguistics, The Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

Abstract

In Kalhori Kurdish,, the full forms of second-person-singular and first-person-plural endings end in /ən/, but this sequence may be deleted for simplification. In certain phonetic contexts, though, the freedom of choice in these variations is lost, with only the full forms of these endings being grammatical. The present article attempts to study such phonetic contexts, and explains why and how truncation is blocked. The data were collected by interviewing 15 Kalhori Kurdish speakers from Eslamabad-e Gharb. The findings show that speakers can freely choose between the full form and truncated form except when the endings are preceded by the vowel [i], in which case, in order for the first-person-plural ending /-imən/ not to be confused with the first-person-singular /-im/, the sequence /ən/ cannot drop. Furthermore, the second-person-singular ending, although phonetically represented either as [i], [id], or [idən], cannot take the former form when preceded by the past tense suffix /i/.

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History

  • Receive Date: 26 June 2024
  • Revise Date: 22 October 2024
  • Accept Date: 22 October 2024

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