Compensatory Vowel Lengthening of /A/ Occurs due to the Deletion of Certain Consonants according to Moraic Theory

Abstract

This study investigates compensatory vowel lengthening of /a/ in Kurdish within the framework of Moraic theory. For the first time, the process of compensatory lengthening of /a/ is analyzed using Moraic theory in the Kurdish language. Compensatory lengthening refers to the process of lengthening a phoneme, most often a vowel, in response to the removal or shortening of another phoneme. Essentially, a vowel is lengthened to compensate for the omission of another phoneme. Compensatory lengthening results from the reduction or shortening of an adjacent phoneme. As a result, the weight of the segment where compensatory lengthening occurs remains constant. To analyze this process, we recorded and examined words using (Praat), a program dedicated to the acoustic analysis of speech sounds. Through this program, we measured the length of the vowel /a/ in both its normal and extended states to observe the differences. This process is common in many languages. The goal of Moraic theory is to distinguish between languages that exhibit compensatory lengthening and those that do not. In addition, the mora is used to determine syllable weight and serves as a structural unit between the syllable and phoneme tiers. Phonemes can be associated with morae, which carry phonemic rhythm. Moraic theory effectively explains this process, which occurs when a unit is reduced in the phoneme tier, leaving some morae free in the moraic tier. This article demonstrates that, contrary to Hayes' (1989) claim, the result of this process is not the preservation of sentence weight but rather the preservation of word weight.