A Survey on Function of Lenition Processes in Iranian Dialects

This study deals with lenition processes according to the theoretical framework of generative phonology to answer the following questions: How are lenition phonological processes applied in Iranian dialect? In other words, how do the data support the application of lenition processes in Iranian dialects? In which contexts do lenition processes apply in Iranian dialects? The synthetic model of phonological processes is investigated according to the phonological pattern of Persian; finally the most frequent lenition processes are selected. To see how these processes are applied in Persian as lenition, Standard Persian and nine dialects out of twenty five dialects which show these processes are selected. The data are gathered in a field study. Then, each of the lenition processes is probed on the Persian varieties to find the alternatives and underlying forms which are important to decide how the lenition processes are applied, and to find the positions in which lenition processes take place. The collected data support the lenition processes in Persian. The data show that the lenition processes tend to occur in postvocalic, intervocalic and final positions and the final position has the highest frequency. This supports Kenstowichz’s claim that the word final position is the typical position for lenition.