Compensatory Lengthening: A Change in Quality?

Document Type : .

Author
Anis Masoumi
PhD in Linguistics, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
10.30465/lsi.2024.48711.1759
Abstract
Considering previous studies on some varieties of Iranian languages, it has implicitly concluded that Compensatory Lengthening (CL) has a double effect in some language varieties. CL refers to the process through which, in response to the omission of one moraic segment, a segment is lengthened to conserve the moraic structure of the syllable. Previous studies have proposed that, based on the type of the target vowel, CL may compensate for the lost mora by either vowel lengthening or by its replacement by the long vowel [ɑ]. In the present study, the cause of this qualitative change in this context has been investigated. Analyzing the trigger consonants, it was indicated that all of them can be classified within the [pharyngeal] natural class according to their shared [RTR] feature. Thorough the pharyngealization harmony process, these consonants spread their distinctive [RTR] feature to their adjacent vowel, which leads to a more back and lower place of articulation which is similar to that of [ɑ]. Due to the similar contexts for the application of the mentioned rules, investigating their interaction indicated that, firstly, through the pharyngealization harmony, the syllable nucleus will be changed into a bimoraic vowel. As [pharyngealized] consonants are subject to deletion in the coda, their deletion leads to a stray mora. However, the context for the lengthening of the vowel has been removed. More clearly, prior to the coda deletion, the short vowel has been changed into a bimoraic one, to which the stray mora cannot be linked.
Keywords
compensatory lengthening (CL)
retracted tongue root
pharyngeal consonants
pharyngealization harmony
mora
ابراهیمی، شیما و اخلاقی باجوقری، الهام. (1396). «بررسی فرایند آوایی کشش جبرانی در گویش تایبادی بر اساس نظریۀ بهینگی». دوفصلنامۀ زبان‌شناسی گویش‌های ایرانی دانشگاه شیراز. 2/1، 23ـ44.
بدخشان، ابراهیم و زمانی، محمد. (1392). «تحلیل و توصیف فرایند کشش جبرانی در گویش کردی کلهری بر پایه نظریۀ بهینگی». زبان و زبان‌شناسی. 9/17، 135ـ149.
ثباتی، الهام. (1397). «تجزیه و تحلیل کشش جبرانی واکه در گونه‌های کردی ایلامی با تکیه بر تحلیل مورایی». علم زبان. 5/7، 89ـ107.
علی‌نژاد، بتول و زاهدی، محمد صدیق. (1388). «تحلیل مورایی کشش جبرانی واکه در گویش کردی سورانی». پژوهش‌های زبان‌شناسی. 1/1، 27ـ46.
فرخی برفه، محمدحسن. (1378). بررسی و توصیف گویش میمند. پایان‌نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد.
گل‌دوست، روشنک. (1395). «توصیف و تحلیل دو فرایند کشش جبرانی و هماهنگی واکه‌ای در گویش پسیخانی: رویکرد بهینگی». دوماهنامۀ جستارهای زبانی. 7/3، 149ـ169.
محتشم، حسن. (1375). فرهنگنامه بومی سبزوار: واژه‌های گویش سبزواری همراه با شرح، معنی و شاهدمثال شعری. سبزوار: دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی واحد سبزوار.
نقشبندی، شهرام، حاج عیدی، حوا. (1396). «چند فرایند واجی در گویش دیباجی». دوفصلنامۀ علمی ـ پژوهشی مطالعات زبانی و بلاغی. 8/16، 301ـ332.
Alsager, H. N. (2020). “The influence of guttural consonants /χ/, /ħ/, and /h/ on vowel /a/ in Saudi Arabic”. International Journal of English Linguistics. 10, 115-126. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v10n1p115
Avery, P. & Rice, K. (1989). “Segment structure and coronal underspecification”. Phonology. 6, 179-200.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/4419997
Catford, J. C. (1977). Fundamental Problems in Phonetics. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press.
Clements, G. N. (1990). “The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification”. Papers in Laboratory Phonology. 1, 283-333. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627736.017
Fitch, W. T. & Giedd, J. (1999). “Morphology and development of the human vocal tract: A study using Magnetic Resonance Imaging”. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 106(3), 1511-1522. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.42714
Gussenhoven, C. & Jacobs, H. (2017). Understanding Phonology (4th ed.). London: Routledge.
Hayes, B. (1989). “Compensatory lengthening in moraic phonology”. Linguistic Inquiry. 20(2), 253-306.
Heath, J. (2011). A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali) (Vol. 35). Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Jensen, J. T. (2004). Principles of Generative Phonology: An Introduction. (Vol. 250). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kiparsky, P. (1968). “Linguistic universals and linguistic change”. In E. Bach & R. Harms (Eds.), Universals in Linguistic Theory, (pp. 170-202). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
McCarthy, J. J. (1994). “The phonetics and phonology of Semitic pharyngeals”. In P. A. Keating (Ed.), Phonological Structure and Phonetic Form: Papers in Laboratory Phonology III, (pp. 191-233). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rose, S. (1996). Variable laryngeals and vowel lowering. Phonology. 13/1, 73-117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0952675700000191
Shahin, K. N. (2002). Post-Velar Harmony. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamin Publication.
Zawaydeh B. A. (2003). “The interaction of the phonetics and phonology of gutturals”. Local, Ogden, Temple, Papers in Laboratory Phonology. VI: Phonetic interpretation. 279-292. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486425.017
Language and Linguistics
Volume 19, Issue 38
September 2024
Pages 209-230