An Optimality Theoretic Analysis of Lenition in Sanandaji Kurdish

Adopting a descriptive-analytic method in the framework of Optimality Theory, this present study aims to analyse the phonological process of lenition, especially spirantisation – a process by which an obstruent becomes a fricative or an approximant- in Kurdish dialect of Sanandaj. In order to gather data, in addition to doing interviews with both female and male speakers of the dialect from different ages, the authors have used their linguistic intuition as a speakers of Sanandaji Kurdish. Analyzing the data demonstrates that spirantisation occurs in all weak positions namely, in onset, coda, and inter-vocalic positions, motivated either by sonority (in two-member coda clusters to conform to the Sonority Sequencing Principle/ Generalization), or assimilating to a neighboring sound with a higher degree of sonority. However, in a special case of lenition in this dialect, changes happen not in the kind of obstruction but in the degree of obstruction of the same phone, though the motivation is still assimilating to a neighboring sound with a higher degree of sonority.