Geographical Distribution of Vowel Variations of Sistani Dialect in Shahraki-Naroui and Miyankangi Regions

Each language continues to survive by means of some of its variations. One of the important sub-domains of sociology of language deals with the geographical distributions of these variations. The aim of this study is to investigate the geographical distribution of some vowel variations in Sistani dialect spoken in Shahraki-Naroui and Miyankangi regions of Sistan. In order to determine the guide and main linguistic variations, we provided the free speech of one or two of the above fifty-year-old uneducated or less educated female and male speakers in 28 villages. Then a questionnaire including a lexical list was prepared and carried out. Finally, the exact area of each vowel variation was specified by using linguistic maps and drawing isoglosses via Geogrephical Information System (GIS) software. The research findings reveal that vowel raising, lowering, fronting and backing, and vowel simplification processes are considerably observed in these two regions. Similarly, noticeable Middle Persian linguistic remnants such as vowel length process and some cases of vowel retention can be intentioned. In addition, in spite of the linguistic similarities, because of some differences in the speech of the speakers, some accents coulde be identified in Sistani dialect spoken in these two regions. The most conspicuous one is Bârâni (locally pronounced Bârni) accent in Miyankangi region the speakers of which use the vowel variations more similar to those of the standard Persian language.