Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to determine the phonemic status of [h] and [ʔ] in the Sistani dialect of Miyankangi. Auditory tests applied to the relevant data show that [ʔ] occurs mainly in word-initial position, where it stands in free variation with Ø. The only place where [h] is heard is in Arabic and Persian loanwords, and only in the pronunciation of some speakers who are educated and/or live in urban centres, where inhabitants are in closer touch with Persian than in rural areas. The sound [h] also occurs in the pronunuciation of some Arabic loanwords where it replaces the glottal plosive, particularly in word medial, intervocalic position. The investigation shows that neither [ʔ] nor [h] have phonemic status in the Sistani dialect of Miyankangi at present, but that more intense contact with Persian may change this state in the future, particularly for [h].
Machine summary:
"2. The status of [h] and [ʔ] in adjacent languages and in other dialect variants of Sistani The sounds [h] and [ʔ] exist as phonemes in Standard Persian of Iran.
Jahani (2005), on the other hand, argues that [ʔ] is non-phonemic in this position since there is no contrast between [ʔ] and Ø in words with an initial vowel unless the word is pronounced after a pause, in which case the glottal plosive is compulsory.
Lazard (1974: 65) does not include [h] and [ʔ] on the phonemic chart of the Sistani dialect spoken in the town of Zabol in 4 However, elsewhere in his article, Windfuhr does not insert a glottal plosive in words with an initial vowel.
5 Jahani (2005: 85) holds that in Persian the glottal plosive is always pronounced before a vowel in "utterance initial position after a pause".
Auditory tests of the data gathered from the speech of male and female language consultants and the analysis of spectrograms allow us to draw the following conclusions about the status of these two sounds in this dialect: The only places in which a [h] sound is heard are: a) under the influence of Standard Persian in Persian words containing an [h] sound in the pronunciation of some speakers who are educated and/or lived in urban centres.
8 This [ʔ] or [ʕ] may be pronounced as a glottal plosive also in Persian, but often causes lengthening of a preceding vowel if it occurs in postvocalic position (see Jahani 2005)."