The evolution of the phonological process of omission from Old Persian to New Persian; An Optimality Theory Approach

The present paper seeks an account of the evolution of the phonological omission process from Old Persian to New Persian within the scope of historical phonology. It is conducted in a descriptive-analytic method based on the Optimality Theory. The research data were collected from ancient Acaemenid scripts including Persepolis، Naghsh-e Rostam، Bistoon، Shush، and Ganjnameh scripts. The results indicate that in the historical evolution process، those forms are optimal which have undergone the omission process. In line with the implementation of this process، the syllabic structure of the lexicon has undergone change and reduction. These optimal forms as well as the reduction of the number of syllables in the syllabification structure verify the linguistic economy principle.