Vowel Mutation in Hindko: Optimality Theory Analysis

Abstract

Vowel mutation is a productive process for forming new words in Germanic languages. The current study examines the vowel mutation process in Hindko, which is an Indo-Aryan dialect. The main focus of the paper is to analyze the process of vowel mutation resulting in derivations in Hindko. For the current study, the data was collected using a discourse-centered method. The study uses optimality theory as framework to identify the structural constraints on input and output vowel mutation. The study discovers that through this process, words of various categories can be formed in Hindko. The results of the study show that the causative verbs can be formed by lengthening the /o/ and /a/ in Hindko to make them de-verbal. In addition, the study also reveals that /a/ derives a noun from a verbal root in the language. The study recommends a spectrographic analysis of vowel mutation for further exploration of the phenomenon in the language.