Abstract
This study is aimed to analyze gemination in tri-syllabic words in Persian. Data for the study is collected from Dehkhoda Medium Dictionary. The collected data categorized in different tables in Excel. To classify the data, various factors such as structure of syllable, number of morphemes, combination of morphemes (being simple word, derived, compound or derivational-compound), grammatical categories, and the language of origin are considered. The data is analyzed in three stages. First, the whole data including Persian and borrowed geminated words is studied. Then, Persian geminated words are selected and studied separately. Finally, the data is analyzed to answer the main question of current research: What types of morphemes in Persian can satisfy Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP). This question leads the researchers to hypothesize that derivational morphemes can satisfy OCP. To examine this hypothesis, Optimality Theory (OT) employed to figure out the order of limitations in optimum syllabic combination.
Highlights
Gemination and its usage in Persian is rarely studied, since many researchers may consider gemination as Arabic phonetical pattern that is borrowed and used in Persian
The place of gemination in these words confirmed the hypothesis of the present research: no geminated consonant exists in word final position in Persian
(6) In Persian, geminated phonemes do not come at the end of one syllable when a word with potential gemination used separately and the geminated phoneme distributed in two syllables when a vowel comes after, except when a speaker wants to show excitement or emphasize
Summary
Gemination and its usage in Persian is rarely studied, since many researchers may consider gemination as Arabic phonetical pattern that is borrowed and used in Persian. A few geminated words that trace back to Old Persian such as /parre/ are still in use in Modern Persian[1]. A few researches have been carried out on gemination in Persian from various perspectives like gemination in written Persian[2], in syllabic structure[3], and its changes in Persian[4]. This research, attempts to study the frequency of tri-syllabic geminated words in Persian, their syllabic structure, their origin, frequency of geminated consonants in tri-syllabic words, frequency of simple, derived and compound words, and probable constraints on occurrence of gemination in word or syllabic ending according to OT.
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