Pronunciation of The Present/ Future Forms of "ddan"(to give) in Colloquial Persian: Opacity in Parallel Optimality Theory and Harmonic Serialism

The present/ future forms of the infinitive verb "ddan" (to give) are made by adding the prefix /mi-/ and the inflectional endings /-am/, /-i/, /-ad/, /-im/, /-id/, and /-and/ to the stem /de/. These forms include [mideham] (I give), [midehi] (you (singular) give), [midehad] (s/he gives), [midehim] (we give), [midehid] (you (plural) give), and [midehand] (they give) respectively. The pronunciation of these forms in colloquial Persian decreases from three syllables to two because according to the principle of minimal effort speakers tend to use less energy and to make less effort when producing linguistic elements. As a result, these forms are pronounced [midam] (I give), [midi] (you (singular) give), [mide] (s/he gives), [midim] (we give), [midin] (you (plural) give), and [midan] (they give) respectively. This research aims to identify and analyze the phonological processes and constraint rankings that cause the pronunciation of these forms. The rankings are completed gradually until a single inclusive ranking is gained that is capable of explaining all the pronunciations. The primary cause of these pronunciations is the deletion of the verb vowel /e/ to resolve hiatus. Other phonological processes that occur include /d/ deletion, [n] insertion, and vowel raising. This paper adopts morphologically indexed constraints to accommodate feeding opacity in [mide] and [midin]. Moreover, it applies Harmonic Serialism to handle opacity in the former.