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Compensatory Lengthening: /h/ (he-ye
hotti and he-ye havvaz) deletion in Spoken Persian |
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| Listen to the pairs of words below. In each pair, the same word is pronounced in Written/Formal style and in Spoken/Colloquial style Persian. In Written/Formal style, the two letters he (he-ye hotti and he-ye havvaz info) are usually pronounced identically (although in Arabic they are pronounced differently.) In Spoken/Colloquial style, this /h/ is often replaced (especially in high-frequency, everyday words depending on the speaker, audience and situation, etc) by a lengthening of the previous vowel. To be more precise, the he is deleted and then the previous vowel is uttered for a slightly longer duration. Note that words are very rarely seen written in Persian the way they are actually pronounced. You will only see words "mis-spelled" without the he in a very few cartoons or an occasional dialogue in a story or novel. You should avoid this usage while being aware of it. It is rarer than writing "gonna", for example in English. Please see the similar compensatory lengthening with `ayn / glottal stop deletion. Note: Factors such as the final syllable being "open" (Vowel + Consonant pattern) and the word having more than one syllable may be at play here | |||
| 1 | short | ||
| 1a | Written: kutāh (the /h/ is pronounced) | کوتاه | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 1b | Spoken: kutā: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /ā/ is uttered for a longer duration) | کوتا | |
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| 2 | explanation | ||
| 2a | Written: towzih (can also be transliterated /tawzih/) (the /h/ is pronounced) | توضیح | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 2b | Spoken: towzi: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /i/ is uttered for a longer duration) | توضی | |
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| 3 | along with | ||
| 3a | Written: ham-rāh (the /h/ is pronounced) | همراه | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 3b | Spoken: ham-rā: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /ā/ is uttered for a longer duration) | همرا | |
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| 4 | reform | ||
| 4a | Written: eslāh (the /h/ is pronounced) | اصلاح | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 4b | Spoken: eslā: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /ā/ is uttered for a longer duration) | اصلا | |
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| 5 | hard work, exertion | ||
| 5a | Written: zahmat (the /h/ is pronounced) | زحمت | |
| 5b | Spoken: za: mat (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /a/ is uttered for a longer duration) | زمت | |
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| 6 | mistake | ||
| 6a | Written: eshtebāh (the /h/ is pronounced) | اشتباه | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 6b | Spoken: eshtebā: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /ā/ is uttered for a longer duration) | اشتبا | |
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| 7 | discussion | ||
| 7a | Written: bahs (the /h/ is pronounced) | بحث | |
| 7b | Spoken: ba: s (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /a/ is uttered for a longer duration) | بث | |
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| 8 | correction | ||
| 8a | Written: tashih (the /h/ is pronounced) | تصحیح | Note: Possibly no Compensatory Lengthening here due to absence of moraic slot needing to be filled. |
| 8b | Spoken: ta:si: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowels /a/ and /i/ are uttered for a longer duration) | تصی | |
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| 9 | explanation | ||
| 9a | Written: sharh (the /h/ is pronounced) | شرح | |
| 9b | Spoken: shar: (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /a/ is uttered for a longer duration) | شر | |
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| 10 | mountain-climbing | ||
| 10a | Written: kuh-navardi (the /h/ is pronounced) | کوهنوردی | Note: May be “Final Consonant Deletion” here, not Compensatory Lengthening. (Multisyllabic also final VC) |
| 10b | Spoken: ku: -navardi (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /u/ is uttered for a longer duration) | کونوردی | |
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| 11 | breakfast | ||
| 11a | Written: sobhāne (the /ān/ to /un/ conversion and the word-final he as a spelling convention are separate topics!) (the /h/ is pronounced) | صبحانه | Note: Possibly no Compensatory Lengthening here due to absence of moraic slot needing to be filled. |
| 11b | Spoken: so: bune (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /o/ is uttered for a longer duration) | صبونه | |
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| 12 | swearing, curse-word | ||
| 12a | Written: fohsh (the /h/ is pronounced) | فحش | |
| 12b | Spoken: fo: sh (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /o/ is uttered for a longer duration) | فش | |
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| 13 | better | ||
| 13a | Written: behtar (the /h/ is pronounced) | بهتر | |
| 13b | Spoken: be: tar (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /e/ is uttered for a longer duration) | بتر | |
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| 14 | conversation | ||
| 14a | Written: sohbat (the /h/ is pronounced) | صحبت | |
| 14b | Spoken: so: bat (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /o/ is uttered for a longer duration) | صبت | |
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| 15 | gift | ||
| 15a | Written: tohfe (the /h/ is pronounced) | تحفه | |
| 15b | Spoken: to: fe (the /h/ is deleted and the preceding vowel /o/ is uttered for a longer duration) | تفه | |
| This list is also available as a drag and drop exercise (which may be easier to use for those of you on dial-up as there is less audio per page!) | |||
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