Phonological Processes of Dezfuli-Shushtari in Two Speech Islands and Standard Persian: A Comparative Study

Many of the smaller languages of Iran are now threatened with extinction (UNESCO 2013). To study and preserve the local dialects of Khuzestan,the south-west province of Iran, this paper investigates the consonant phonological processes of Dezfuli-Shushtari as one of the basic type of Southwestern Iranian languages and to compare it with those of Standard Persian in the framework of generative phonology. Mac Kinnon (1974) points out that Dezfuli-Shushtari is spoken by the Iranian folk of the province in two speech islands, Dezful and Shushtar. Required data were collected through interviews with 50 literate and illiterate male and female participants, the majority of whom were middle-aged (40-70) .Then the data were transcribed based on IPA and analyzed descriptively. Although the results of this research indicate that this language verity, as elsewhere in Iran, is under severe pressure from Standard Persian, some of these phonological processes are not present in Standard Persian. Lenition and elision are the most frequent processes.