The Study of Fortition Process in Sistani Dialect Based on the Autosegmental Phonology

This study deals with fortition processes in Sistani dialect as spoken in Sistan region located in the north of Sistan and Baluchestan province based on Autosegmental phonology by Goldsmith (1976). This is a descriptive-analytic study. So, 20 females and males more than 50 years old, low educated and Sistani dialect speakers have been selected by random. The data has been gathered by interviewing and recording their free speech for twenty minutes per person . The relevant data has been extracted from the recorded sentences and then transcribed by IPA alphabet. Eventually, the phonological rules of the data have been described and analyzed based on the concepts and principles of Autosegmental phonology.  The research results showed that the fortition process in Sistani dialect, is represented as glottal [ʔ] insertion in initial position of word, front high glide [j] insertion and nasal consonant [n] insertion between two vowels at the end of the word in the coda position, the conversion of voiced obstruent /ʁ/ to voiceless obstruent [χ], the conversion of obstruent labio-dental /f/ and /v/ to labial [p] and [b], gemination between two morphemes and at the end of some words and also, aspiration process in the voiceless obstruent consonants in the onset position of the first syllable, the stressed syllables in the middle of words as well as the coda position of the last syllable.