Persian (Tajik, Dari, dialects): x+v خو۔ combination as in خویش ۔ خواهر

[marrish]

Believe me I couldn't find any thread in English (there might be Persian-only threads) about this subject so here is a new thread.

What I was taught and heard is that و doesn't interfere in pronunciation of words like خواهش، خویش، خود، خواهر، ، خواست etc.


So far I never doubted this but some days ago I bumped across some radio fragments in Tajik and I am quite certain I heard some of these words pronounced with a 'w'. Unfortunately I can't remember which word it was.

When has 'w' dissapeared from the pronunciation and is it or can it be found in any variety or dialect of Persian? Or was it a mistake?

Thanks

 

[fdb]

In early New Persian these were pronounced as xwaδ, xwāhar, xwāst, xwāhiš, xwēš. At least the last four of these are still pronounced with /xw/ in Afghan reading pronunciation, but not (I think) generally in the spoken dialects.

 

[molana]

In the past, the Iranians pronounced the sound [w] in the words that are mentioned above, but little by little, this sound has been dropped, and nowadays, the Farsi speakers don't pronounce the sound [w] anymore. However, we save the letter "و" in writing Farsi.

 

[Derakhshan]

I wonder if the و in the words خوردن and خوش became interpreted as a zamme sound. Because they are pronounced xash and xard in my dialect (Fars), while for خواست, the خ is dropped rather than the و, giving wast.

Is it possible the development in Persian went like this:
xwa- → xa- → xo-

 

[fdb]

Middle Persian xwā and xwē retain the labialisation in early New Persian (xwāst, xwēš etc.), but xwa becomes xu (xuδ, xuδāy); thus there is no و in the NP orthography of the latter.

 

[Derakhshan]

Middle Persian xwā and xwē retain the labialisation in early New Persian (xwāst, xwēš etc.), but xwa becomes xu (xuδ, xuδāy); thus there is no و in the NP orthography of the latter.

But خوردن, which comes from MP xwardan, does have و in its orthography.

Yet خفتن (ENP xwaftan), which also follows this pattern in my dialect (past stem xat), has no و. So I guess my proposition isn't very likely.

 

[fdb]

I answered this rather too quickly. In Early NP خوذ is still xwaδ (rhymes with -aδ in the early poets), but later it becomes xud. Otherwise, the reflex of MP xwa- is variable.