Pronunciation of Reflexive Pronouns in the Standard Spoken Persian and Bakhtiari Dialect: A Comparative Study

Persian singular and plural reflexive/ emphatic pronouns are formed by adding enclitic pronouns to the word “Xod” (self). This research analyzes and compares the pronunciation of reflexive pronouns in the standard spoken Persian and Bakhtiari dialect using Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993/2004). It aimed at introducing (un)shared phonological processes and constraints that determine the pronunciation of singular and plural reflexive pronouns. In so doing, it came up with inclusive rankings of constraints to explain all different pronunciations in both versions. The results of this research indicate that pre-nasal raising in plural reflexive/ emphatic pronouns is the only shared phonological process in the standard spoken Persian and Bakhtiari dialect. Furtheremore, the principal reason for different pronunciation of reflexive pronouns in Bakhtiari dialect is deletion of /d/ in “Xod” which in turn feeds the deletion of enclitic vowel in order to resolve hiatus. Also, this paper discusses why the consonant of the enclitic /-aS/ is pronounced either [S] or [s] in different Bakhtiari speaking areas. As for Bakhtiari dialect, the analyses are rather diachronic because changes in the pronunciation of its reflexive pronouns have occurred throughout its history and today they have no other pronunciations.