On Fronting of ū in Lori and Central Iranian Dialects

In most varieties of Lori Dialects original ū is generally fronted to ī in some words which is seen with ū in Persian. A similar change is found in Central Iranian Dialects where original ū has been fronted to ü or ī. There are some issues about the origin of the fronted vowel, its distribution in sound system of the Iranian dialects, and its phonemic value especially in Central dialects. In this paper by a diachronic approach and etymological analysis of the words that have the fronted vowel, it will be shown that the fronting can be viewed as a sound change in historical development of the dialects. The results show that fronting of ū has been occurred where ū or ī are originally from Middle Iranian and Old Iranian ū, while it is not found in words that have an ū from Middle Iranian ō which itself is derived from Old Iranian au.