A Generative Study of Phoneme System of Sarhaddi Balochi Dialect of Granchin

Generative linguists are specifically interested in phonology as an important part of the grammar of any language. Generative phonology the beginning of which can be attributed to Chomsky and Halle (1968), has been proposed in terms of specific patterns and models over the times. The present study, in the form of fieldwork, studies phonological inventory (including consonants and vowels) of Sarhaddi Balochi dialect of Granchin (SBG) based on a generative phonological framework. It follows Burquest’s (2001) model of phonology to verify the identity of each phoneme. For this purpose, the linguistic data of Sarhaddi Balochi dialect collected in Granchin district of Khash city in Sistan and Baluchestan province is investigated. The Linguistic corpus used in the present study is mostly based on the purposeful recording of speech in the form of interview and elicitation procedures. Language consultants of this research include 10 consultants, who were illiterate and of different ages, between 60-80 years. The findings of the study show that, Berquest’s (ibid) phonological model of phoneme is applicable to identify consonant and vowel inventory of Sarhadi Balochi of Granchin. The results also denote that there are 21 consonants in the phoneme system of this dialect, including: 8 stop consonants, 5 fricative consonants, 2 affricative consonants, 2 nasal consonants, 1 trill consonant, 1 lateral consonant, and 2 glides as well as 9 vowels including: 6 simple vowels and 3 diphtongs.