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MUFLEH SALEM M. ALQAHTANI

Professor

Professor of Theoretical Linguistics (Phonology)

اللغات وعلومها
Department of Linguistics, College of Language Sciences

The Phonological Opacity of Local Compensatory Lengthening in Modern Colloquial Persian: A Stratal Optimality Theoretic Approach

Alqahtani, Mufleh Salem M. . 2020

Modern Colloquial Persian; Local CL; Counterbleeding; Stratal OT

This study applies Stratal Optimality Theory (OT) to illuminate the phonological opacity of local Compensatory Lengthening (CL) in Modern Colloquial Persian, which targets moraic glottal consonants /h/ and /Ɂ/ in the postvocalic position. It concludes that moraic structure is built before segmental changes through Weight-by-Position (WBP), which applies before consonant deletion or vowel lengthening. This order of application ensures that moras are assigned to coda consonants before their deletion to facilitate the affiliation of floating moras to preceding stem vowels. This opaque phonological derivation involves consonant deletion counterbleeding WBP. Unlike Standard OT, Stratal OT is shown to be capable of accounting for counterbleeding through strata with different sets of OT constraints; the first stratum guarantees building moraic structure prior to segment deletion or lengthening, while the secBond stratum guarantees counterbleeding to account for CL.

Publication Work Type
Research Article
Publisher Name
P. J. Šafárik University in Kosice
Publishing City
Kosice, Slovakia
Volume Number
17
Issue Number
5
Magazine \ Newspaper
SKASE JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS (indexed in Web of Science)
Pages
3-26
more of publication
publications

This paper examines serialism (i.e. serial derivations) in regressive voicing assimilation (RVA) within the framework of harmonic serialism in coping with heterorganic obstruent clusters in Modern…

by Mufleh Salem M. Alqahtani
2025
Published in:
Oxford University Press
publications

This research discusses the underapplication opacity, namely counterbleeding, of non-local compensatory lengthening in Modern Colloquial Persian, a style of informal speech in Iran (mostly in…

by Mufleh Salem M. Alqahtani
2023
Published in:
Sage Open (indexed in Web of Science)
publications

This study examines how association line crossing in prosodic structure, as well as a bad sonority contour triggered by a glottal approximant in postconsonantal position, is avoided by non-local…

by Mufleh Salem M. Alqahtani
2023
Published in:
Yarmouk University