The Analysis of Compensatory Lengthening of Vowel in Ilami Kurdish Variants Based on Moraic Phonology

The present study focuses on compensatory lengthening of vowel in Ilami Kurdish variants on the basis of Moraic Theory. In Moraic Theory, one segment is removed from phonological layer but its mora remains in moraic layer. In the above-mentioned variants compensatory lengthening occurs following deleting consonants like /?/, /j/ and /h/ and a vowel is lengthened following their deletion. In current study, the researcher, being a native speaker of Ilami Kurdish variant (Feily) and familiar with other Ilami Kurdish variants, collected data from 20 informants by interviewing with them. A descriptive-analytic approach was adopted in the study. Some of the most remarkable results of this research study are as follows: (1) The main motivation behind compensatory lengthening is maintaining moraic weight of word which was demonstrated through non-linear analysis; thus, Moraic Theory can efficiently describe the compensatory lengthening in Ilami Kurdish variants; (2) Only three consonants, namely /h/, /j/ and /x/, have syllable weight, whose deletion leads to compensatory lengthening of vowel; (3) The maximum mora in Ilami Kurdish variants is three; (4) In Ilami Kurdish varients, the nature of the long vowels are changed as a result of deletion of moraic consonants following them.