Vowel Shortening in Central Kurdish: An Analysis Based on the Principles of Optimality Phonology

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• shortening
• vowel
• central kurdish
• phonology
• optimality