Bahareh Soohani | Leiden University (original) (raw)

Papers by Bahareh Soohani

This article attempts to identify and analysis two different types of geminate, namely, single vo... more This article attempts to identify and analysis two different types of geminate, namely, single vowel-adjacent geminate and intervocalic geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi dialect. In addition, analyses of these geminate processes are given in the framework of Optimality theory (OT). We also represent the moraic model of syllable structure in this dialect to support the idea that geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB) is underlyingly moraic. The data have been extracted from the linguistic corpus collected through fieldwork in Sarawan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. The research findings show that both single vowe-adjacent geminates and intervocalic geminates are common in CSB, whereas no initial geminates have been observed in the data under investigation. Moreover, almost all consonants can occur as geminate consonants in word-final position, while no glide and glottal consonants appear as geminate consonants in this position. Likewise, geminate in CSB suppor...

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as ‘m/p-reduplication’ and which instantiates an example of ‘morphological fixed segmentism’ in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi ...

This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three IranianBaoch... more This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three IranianBaochi dialects (IBDs) namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). The analyses of these phonological adaptations will be given within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT), comparative tableau (Prince 200). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of Iran. The research findings demonstrate that in segmental adaptation, foreign inputs with fricatives f, v, χ, ɣ are adapted into IBDs as p, w, h or k and k or ɡ respectively. Also vowel adaptation illustrates that diphthongization and vowel laxness are two common processes in vowel adaptation in IBDs. In addition phonotatic adaptation in IBDs shows that final word germination is observed in loanwords as well as original Balochi words; but there is also number of loans degemination in Sarhaddi and Lashari Balochi. Moreover these findings can be repre...

Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 2012

The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), spo... more The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), spoken in Sarawan located in Sistan and Baluchestan province of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on metrical theory as developed in Hayes (1995). Correspondingly, the present research illustrates the position of primary and secondary stress in mono-morphemic words, verbal paradigms, compound words, complex words, pair words and simple transitive as well as intransitive sentences. The linguistic data are mostly based on the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview and elicitation from the speech of 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. CSB data highlight that the stress pattern system in this language variety is almost totally systematic; it is a language variety with iambic feet. Further, CSB data show up that stress is culminative at phonological level. It is also rhythmically distributed. The absence of stress assimilation is suppor...

Dialectologia, 2018

espanolEste articulo tiene como objetivo investigar como se adaptan fonologicamente los prestamos... more espanolEste articulo tiene como objetivo investigar como se adaptan fonologicamente los prestamos en tres dialectos baluchi iranianos (IBD), a saber, Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) y Lashari Balochi (LB). Los analisis de estas adaptaciones fonologicas se daran en el marco de la Teoria de la Optimidad (TO) (Prince 200). Los datos se han recopilado durante un trabajo de campo de investigacion en las provincias de Sistan y Baluchistan de Iran. Los resultados de la investigacion demuestran que en la adaptacion segmental, las prestamos extranjeras con las fricativas f, v, χ, ɣ se adaptan en IBD como p, w, h o k y k o ɡ, respectivamente. Tambien la adaptacion vocalica ilustra que la diptongacion y la laxitud vocal son dos procesos comunes en la adaptacion de vocales en IBD. Ademas, la adaptacion fonotactica en IBD muestra que se oberva la germinacion al final de la palabra en los prestamos y en las palabras originales de baluchi; pero tambien hay una cantidad de pr...

The present study deals with the phonological system of three Iranian Balochi dialects namely Mir... more The present study deals with the phonological system of three Iranian Balochi dialects namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi (MBS), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). Those three selected Iranian Balochi dialects are spoken respectively in Mirjaveh, Sarawan, and Lashar in Sistan and Balouchestan province, which is located in the southeast of Iran. As t the title of the present research, both descriptive and theoretical approaches (Optimality Theory) are concerned, since they can complement each other, connecting language (i.e. Balochi) to language (i.e. universal grammar), and give a formal and precise description and analysis of the grammatical properties of Iranian Balochi dialects sounds.

Dialectologia, 2016

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as ‘m/p-reduplication’ and which instantiates an example of ‘morphological fixed segmentism’ in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.

Dialectologia, 2021

This article attempts to identify the root-affix asymmetries in three Iranian Balochi dialects (I... more This article attempts to identify the root-affix asymmetries in three Iranian Balochi dialects (IBDs) (Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB)). All inflectional and derivation affixes found in IBDs are examined against the Babyee's (2005) hypotheses. In addition, the analyses of these asymmetries are represented based on Optimality Theory, comparative tableau (Prince 2000). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran. The research findings illustrate that there are phoneme restrictions in the phonological structure of affixes, indeed, affixes select the set of less marked phonemes in comparison with roots, also the morpheme shapes in affixes are simple, while roots allow the consonant clusters both in initial and final positions, no complex onsets or codas are seen in the syllable structure of affixes. Moreover, in the constraint rankings, the faithfulness constraint namely FAITH ROOT is considered as an undominated constraint to support the idea that roots intend to have more contrasts.

Taal en tongval, 2010

Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest in the application of modern methodology to the s... more Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest in the application of modern methodology to the study of geographic language variation. One instance of this, applied to the Dutch language area, is the topic of dialectometry. It seems fair to say that the measurements in most dialectometrical projects are fairly superficial from a grammatical point of view. In this article, we propose a view of dialect distance which is radically different both in its methodology and in its goals. We present a view in which the distances between grammars are computed rather than the differences between words or constructions, which we view as products of the grammars. In particular, we consider the phenomenon of umlaut in diminutive forms. Umlaut, a phenomenon in which back vowels become front in certain morphological contexts, is virtually absent in the western parts of the Dutch speaking area, but fully productive in many parts of the east. We show how this east-west transition can be elegantly des...

Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 2021

The present article dedicates to study the syllable-internal structure in three Iranian Balochi d... more The present article dedicates to study the syllable-internal structure in three Iranian Balochi dialects (IBDs) namely MirjavehSarhaddi, Sarawani and Lashari dialects. The data analysis will be based on the onset-rhyme theory (e.g. Kurylowicz 1948; Fudge 1969; Vergnaud and Halle 1979; Selkirk 1982). Moreover, the syllable weight in IBDs will be discussed in the framework of mora theory (Hayes 1985, 1989). The data have been collected during the research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchestan[A1] province, Iran. The research findings demonstrate that Balochi language is an example of nucleus-weight language in which heavy syllables depend on the number of elements in nucleus. Thus, CV and CVC are light syllables and CVV(C) syllable is counted as a heavy syllable. Besides, context dependent weight of CVC syllable occurs in IBDs stress pattern system. Studying the syllable contact (word-medial consonant clusters) in IBDs shows that Balochi is among languages which admit all types of the ...

This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three Iranian-Baoc... more This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three Iranian-Baochi dialects (IBDs) namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). The analyses of these phonological adaptations will be given within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT), comparative tableau (Prince 200). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of Iran. The research findings demonstrate that in segmental adaptation, foreign inputs with fricatives f, v, χ, ɣ are adapted into IBDs as p, w, h or k and k or ɡ respectively. Also vowel adaptation illustrates that diphthongization and vowel laxness are two common processes in vowel adaptation in IBDs. In addition phonotatic adaptation in IBDs shows that final word germination is observed in loanwords as well as original Balochi words; but there is also number of loans degemination in Sarhaddi and Lashari Balochi. Moreover these findings can be represented in OT by ranking the following constraints: FAITH-ROOT, FAITH-AFFIX, FAITH-µ, *Geminate.

Geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi

This#article#attempts#to#identify#and#analysis#two#different#types#of#geminate,#namely,#single#vo... more This#article#attempts#to#identify#and#analysis#two#different#types#of#geminate,#namely,#single#vowelP adjacent# geminate# and# intervocalic# geminate# in# Central# Sarawani# Balochi# dialect.# In# addition,# analyses# of# these# geminate# processes# are# given# in# the# framework# of# Optimality# theory# (OT).# We# also# represent# the# moraic# model# of# syllable# structure# in# this# dialect# to# support# the# idea# that# geminate# in# Central# Sarawani# Balochi# (CSB)# is# underlyingly# moraic.# The# data# have# been# extracted# from# the# linguistic# corpus# collected# through# fieldwork# in# Sarawan# city# in# Sistan# and# Baluchestan# province# of# Iran.# The# research# findings# show# that# both# single# vowelPadjacent# geminates# and# intervocalic# geminates# are# common# in# CSB,# whereas# no# initial#geminates#have#been#observed#in#the#data#under#investigation.#Moreover,#almost#all#consonants#can# occur# as# geminate# consonants# in# wordPfinal# position,# while# no# glide# and# glottal# consonants# appear# as# geminate#consonants#in#this#position.#Likewise,#geminate#in#CSB#supports#the#idea#that#there#is# no#superP heavy#syllable#in#this#dialect,#since#gemination#only#occurs#after#short#vowels.# #

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as 'm/p-reduplication' and which instantiates an example of 'morphological fixed segmentism' in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.

The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani

This article focuses on the study of geographical variations among the phonological systems of St... more This article focuses on the study of geographical variations among the phonological systems of Standard Persian (SP) language, Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), a dialect of Balochi language and the Sistani dialect (SD) of Persian, based on Optimality Theory (OT) and van Oostendorp's (2008) approach. SP and SD are linguistically closely related, but SP and CSB are very farther apart. While these language varieties share some similarities in their phonological system, they also have some peculiarities and are spoken in different geographical locations in Iran. Following OT and van Oostendorp's (2008) approach, the study of syllable structure of SP, CSB and SD supports the fact that the linguistic distance between two dialects is the minimal number of minimal reranking needed to get from one grammar to another. The findings of the present research show the fact that reranking DEP-IO and *COMPLEX ONS constraints supports how the initial clusters are realized in the syllable structure of CSB and SD, but not in SP. In addition, the analysis of the status of [] in the onset position of the syllable structure of SP and SD based on the constraints: DEP-IO, ONSET and MAX-IO indicates that all these language varieties are among languages which typologically do not permit onset-less syllables. Moreover, the data suggests that the linguistic distance between two languages or dialects equals to the geographical distance between them. Further, as to syllable structure, historical considerations should be taken into account. Accordingly, the syllable structure of SD corresponds to the syllable structure of CSB rather than SP, although linguistically SD is closer to SP not CSB.

Thesis Chapters by Bahareh Soohani

This article attempts to identify and analysis two different types of geminate, namely, single vo... more This article attempts to identify and analysis two different types of geminate, namely, single vowel-adjacent geminate and intervocalic geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi dialect. In addition, analyses of these geminate processes are given in the framework of Optimality theory (OT). We also represent the moraic model of syllable structure in this dialect to support the idea that geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB) is underlyingly moraic. The data have been extracted from the linguistic corpus collected through fieldwork in Sarawan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran. The research findings show that both single vowe-adjacent geminates and intervocalic geminates are common in CSB, whereas no initial geminates have been observed in the data under investigation. Moreover, almost all consonants can occur as geminate consonants in word-final position, while no glide and glottal consonants appear as geminate consonants in this position. Likewise, geminate in CSB suppor...

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as ‘m/p-reduplication’ and which instantiates an example of ‘morphological fixed segmentism’ in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi ...

This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three IranianBaoch... more This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three IranianBaochi dialects (IBDs) namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). The analyses of these phonological adaptations will be given within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT), comparative tableau (Prince 200). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of Iran. The research findings demonstrate that in segmental adaptation, foreign inputs with fricatives f, v, χ, ɣ are adapted into IBDs as p, w, h or k and k or ɡ respectively. Also vowel adaptation illustrates that diphthongization and vowel laxness are two common processes in vowel adaptation in IBDs. In addition phonotatic adaptation in IBDs shows that final word germination is observed in loanwords as well as original Balochi words; but there is also number of loans degemination in Sarhaddi and Lashari Balochi. Moreover these findings can be repre...

Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 2012

The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), spo... more The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), spoken in Sarawan located in Sistan and Baluchestan province of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on metrical theory as developed in Hayes (1995). Correspondingly, the present research illustrates the position of primary and secondary stress in mono-morphemic words, verbal paradigms, compound words, complex words, pair words and simple transitive as well as intransitive sentences. The linguistic data are mostly based on the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview and elicitation from the speech of 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. CSB data highlight that the stress pattern system in this language variety is almost totally systematic; it is a language variety with iambic feet. Further, CSB data show up that stress is culminative at phonological level. It is also rhythmically distributed. The absence of stress assimilation is suppor...

Dialectologia, 2018

espanolEste articulo tiene como objetivo investigar como se adaptan fonologicamente los prestamos... more espanolEste articulo tiene como objetivo investigar como se adaptan fonologicamente los prestamos en tres dialectos baluchi iranianos (IBD), a saber, Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) y Lashari Balochi (LB). Los analisis de estas adaptaciones fonologicas se daran en el marco de la Teoria de la Optimidad (TO) (Prince 200). Los datos se han recopilado durante un trabajo de campo de investigacion en las provincias de Sistan y Baluchistan de Iran. Los resultados de la investigacion demuestran que en la adaptacion segmental, las prestamos extranjeras con las fricativas f, v, χ, ɣ se adaptan en IBD como p, w, h o k y k o ɡ, respectivamente. Tambien la adaptacion vocalica ilustra que la diptongacion y la laxitud vocal son dos procesos comunes en la adaptacion de vocales en IBD. Ademas, la adaptacion fonotactica en IBD muestra que se oberva la germinacion al final de la palabra en los prestamos y en las palabras originales de baluchi; pero tambien hay una cantidad de pr...

The present study deals with the phonological system of three Iranian Balochi dialects namely Mir... more The present study deals with the phonological system of three Iranian Balochi dialects namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi (MBS), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). Those three selected Iranian Balochi dialects are spoken respectively in Mirjaveh, Sarawan, and Lashar in Sistan and Balouchestan province, which is located in the southeast of Iran. As t the title of the present research, both descriptive and theoretical approaches (Optimality Theory) are concerned, since they can complement each other, connecting language (i.e. Balochi) to language (i.e. universal grammar), and give a formal and precise description and analysis of the grammatical properties of Iranian Balochi dialects sounds.

Dialectologia, 2016

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as ‘m/p-reduplication’ and which instantiates an example of ‘morphological fixed segmentism’ in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.

Dialectologia, 2021

This article attempts to identify the root-affix asymmetries in three Iranian Balochi dialects (I... more This article attempts to identify the root-affix asymmetries in three Iranian Balochi dialects (IBDs) (Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB)). All inflectional and derivation affixes found in IBDs are examined against the Babyee's (2005) hypotheses. In addition, the analyses of these asymmetries are represented based on Optimality Theory, comparative tableau (Prince 2000). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran. The research findings illustrate that there are phoneme restrictions in the phonological structure of affixes, indeed, affixes select the set of less marked phonemes in comparison with roots, also the morpheme shapes in affixes are simple, while roots allow the consonant clusters both in initial and final positions, no complex onsets or codas are seen in the syllable structure of affixes. Moreover, in the constraint rankings, the faithfulness constraint namely FAITH ROOT is considered as an undominated constraint to support the idea that roots intend to have more contrasts.

Taal en tongval, 2010

Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest in the application of modern methodology to the s... more Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest in the application of modern methodology to the study of geographic language variation. One instance of this, applied to the Dutch language area, is the topic of dialectometry. It seems fair to say that the measurements in most dialectometrical projects are fairly superficial from a grammatical point of view. In this article, we propose a view of dialect distance which is radically different both in its methodology and in its goals. We present a view in which the distances between grammars are computed rather than the differences between words or constructions, which we view as products of the grammars. In particular, we consider the phenomenon of umlaut in diminutive forms. Umlaut, a phenomenon in which back vowels become front in certain morphological contexts, is virtually absent in the western parts of the Dutch speaking area, but fully productive in many parts of the east. We show how this east-west transition can be elegantly des...

Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 2021

The present article dedicates to study the syllable-internal structure in three Iranian Balochi d... more The present article dedicates to study the syllable-internal structure in three Iranian Balochi dialects (IBDs) namely MirjavehSarhaddi, Sarawani and Lashari dialects. The data analysis will be based on the onset-rhyme theory (e.g. Kurylowicz 1948; Fudge 1969; Vergnaud and Halle 1979; Selkirk 1982). Moreover, the syllable weight in IBDs will be discussed in the framework of mora theory (Hayes 1985, 1989). The data have been collected during the research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchestan[A1] province, Iran. The research findings demonstrate that Balochi language is an example of nucleus-weight language in which heavy syllables depend on the number of elements in nucleus. Thus, CV and CVC are light syllables and CVV(C) syllable is counted as a heavy syllable. Besides, context dependent weight of CVC syllable occurs in IBDs stress pattern system. Studying the syllable contact (word-medial consonant clusters) in IBDs shows that Balochi is among languages which admit all types of the ...

This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three Iranian-Baoc... more This paper aims to investigate how the loanwords phonologically are adapted in three Iranian-Baochi dialects (IBDs) namely Mirjaveh Sarhaddi Balochi (MSB), Sarawani Balochi (SB) and Lashari Balochi (LB). The analyses of these phonological adaptations will be given within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT), comparative tableau (Prince 200). The data have been collected during a research fieldwork in Sistan and Baluchistan provinces of Iran. The research findings demonstrate that in segmental adaptation, foreign inputs with fricatives f, v, χ, ɣ are adapted into IBDs as p, w, h or k and k or ɡ respectively. Also vowel adaptation illustrates that diphthongization and vowel laxness are two common processes in vowel adaptation in IBDs. In addition phonotatic adaptation in IBDs shows that final word germination is observed in loanwords as well as original Balochi words; but there is also number of loans degemination in Sarhaddi and Lashari Balochi. Moreover these findings can be represented in OT by ranking the following constraints: FAITH-ROOT, FAITH-AFFIX, FAITH-µ, *Geminate.

Geminate in Central Sarawani Balochi

This#article#attempts#to#identify#and#analysis#two#different#types#of#geminate,#namely,#single#vo... more This#article#attempts#to#identify#and#analysis#two#different#types#of#geminate,#namely,#single#vowelP adjacent# geminate# and# intervocalic# geminate# in# Central# Sarawani# Balochi# dialect.# In# addition,# analyses# of# these# geminate# processes# are# given# in# the# framework# of# Optimality# theory# (OT).# We# also# represent# the# moraic# model# of# syllable# structure# in# this# dialect# to# support# the# idea# that# geminate# in# Central# Sarawani# Balochi# (CSB)# is# underlyingly# moraic.# The# data# have# been# extracted# from# the# linguistic# corpus# collected# through# fieldwork# in# Sarawan# city# in# Sistan# and# Baluchestan# province# of# Iran.# The# research# findings# show# that# both# single# vowelPadjacent# geminates# and# intervocalic# geminates# are# common# in# CSB,# whereas# no# initial#geminates#have#been#observed#in#the#data#under#investigation.#Moreover,#almost#all#consonants#can# occur# as# geminate# consonants# in# wordPfinal# position,# while# no# glide# and# glottal# consonants# appear# as# geminate#consonants#in#this#position.#Likewise,#geminate#in#CSB#supports#the#idea#that#there#is# no#superP heavy#syllable#in#this#dialect,#since#gemination#only#occurs#after#short#vowels.# #

The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patt... more The Central Sarawani dialect of Balochi (Indo-European, Iran), has a number of reduplicative patterns. One of these is an augmentative pattern that we will refer to as 'm/p-reduplication' and which instantiates an example of 'morphological fixed segmentism' in the sense of Alderete et al. (1999). The present study examines this type of reduplication in Sarawani Balochi based on Optimality Theory (OT). The linguistic corpus relies on an original fieldwork through the purposeful recording of speech gathered through interview with 10 male and female language consultants with different social backgrounds. The research findings show that this type of augmentative reduplication can be represented by ranking the following constraints: OCP, FAITH-AFFIX, MAX-BR, *ONS/N, IDENT-BR (lab), and VOP. More interestingly, however, this segment is not completely fixed: in most cases it is m, but this is not true when the stem itself contains m, it is p instead.

The present article investigates the stress pattern system of Central Sarawani

This article focuses on the study of geographical variations among the phonological systems of St... more This article focuses on the study of geographical variations among the phonological systems of Standard Persian (SP) language, Central Sarawani Balochi (CSB), a dialect of Balochi language and the Sistani dialect (SD) of Persian, based on Optimality Theory (OT) and van Oostendorp's (2008) approach. SP and SD are linguistically closely related, but SP and CSB are very farther apart. While these language varieties share some similarities in their phonological system, they also have some peculiarities and are spoken in different geographical locations in Iran. Following OT and van Oostendorp's (2008) approach, the study of syllable structure of SP, CSB and SD supports the fact that the linguistic distance between two dialects is the minimal number of minimal reranking needed to get from one grammar to another. The findings of the present research show the fact that reranking DEP-IO and *COMPLEX ONS constraints supports how the initial clusters are realized in the syllable structure of CSB and SD, but not in SP. In addition, the analysis of the status of [] in the onset position of the syllable structure of SP and SD based on the constraints: DEP-IO, ONSET and MAX-IO indicates that all these language varieties are among languages which typologically do not permit onset-less syllables. Moreover, the data suggests that the linguistic distance between two languages or dialects equals to the geographical distance between them. Further, as to syllable structure, historical considerations should be taken into account. Accordingly, the syllable structure of SD corresponds to the syllable structure of CSB rather than SP, although linguistically SD is closer to SP not CSB.