Azade Ebadi, - Ph.D Candidate of Linguistics, English Language Department, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran
Ashkan Kosari - Ph.D Candidate of Linguistics, English Language Department, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

The aim of this descriptive-analytical study was to investigate the process of phoneme lenition in Mashouri Dialect within the framework of generative phonology. The data were collected by interviewing a group of participants who were either low-educated or completely uneducated. The interviews were conducted by one of the researchers of this study. The data were transcribed by IPA phonetic alphabets. Based on the obtained results, it was found that assimilation is the most frequent lenition process in Mashouri Dialect. Assimilation is followed by centralization, deletion, and metathesis in terms of frequency in Mashouri Dialect. Also, it was found that:- Lenition takes place at the end of syllables- The vowel /a/ at the end of syllables in standard Persian is transformed into /ə/ in Mashouri Dialect- The consonants /d/, /t/, /v/, and /h/ at the end of words and syllables are deleted in Mashouri Dialect- Consonant-to-consonant assimilation is the most frequent type of assimilation in Mashouri Dialect, and assimilation in the manner of production leads to full assimilation- In CVC1C2 structure, if C2 is more sonorant than C1, the process of metathesis occurs

Lenition; Generative Phonology; Mashouri Dialect; Centralization; Deletion; Assimilation;Metathesis