Phonological Opacity in the Relict of Progressive Prefix in Kalhori Kurdish: An Optimality theoretic Account

Fattahi, Mehdi; Jafari, Tahereh

doi:10.22059/jolr.2026.399423.666931

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mehdi Fattahi ¹
Tahereh Jafari ²

¹ Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Department of English Language and Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

² Ph.D. Candidate of Linguistics, Department of English Language and Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22059/jolr.2026.399423.666931

Abstract

The progressive prefix has no phonetic realization in most Kalhori Kurdish verbs and appears as a zero morpheme. However, Fattahi (2022), in a comparative study, provided evidence for the existence of remnants of this prefix in certain verbs, where it has undergone phonological change at morpheme boundaries. In a subsequent study, Fattahi and Jafari (2025), confirmed the existence of this remnant as well as reporting a case of free variation in verbs which contain it in Kalhori Kurdish of Gilan‑e gharb. This prefix seems to have changed in a way resulting in phonological Opacity; In the /tjæ-em/ à [ʧæm] (‘I am coming’) mapping, the consonant remnant [t] assimilates to [ʧ] before the glide [j], while there is no sign of this glide in the surface form. This study aims to investigate counter‑bleeding interaction between the processes responsible for this type of opacity. The data were analyzed within Harmonic Serialism and Optimality Candidate Chains, as two frameworks of Serial Optimality, to see which one accounts for the Opacity observed in the case of Kalhori Kurdish. Data were collected through a 12-hour corpus of interviews with 15 native speakers of Kalhori Kurdish from Gilan‑e Gharb. After being transcribed, and syllabically and morphologically segmented, the alternating forms were derived and analyzed within the frameworks. Given the importance of process ordering in opacity, the results showed that the sequential application of the processes is not enough for Harmonic Serialism to explain opacity, and this theory needs to be equipped with a mechanism which is capable of determining the correct order between processes. Therefore, the framework of Optimality Candidate Chains was revealed to be able to explain opacity, due to order‑related constraints, commonly known as Prec (a,b), and representation of candidates in the form of chains. Prec(Ident [ant] Max_glide) was eventually concluded to be dominating *complex‑syllable, and mandate the preference of assimilation over deletion in during the derivation of [ʧæm]

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Phonological Opacity in the Relict of Progressive Prefix in Kalhori Kurdish: An Optimality theoretic Account

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Volume 16, Issue 2 - Serial Number 31March 2026Pages 241-266

Volume 16, Issue 2 - Serial Number 31
March 2026
Pages 241-266