Lenition in Arabic Loanwords Borrowed into Russian Language; the Optimality Theory Framework

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Russian Language, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

One of the ways new words enter the world's languages is borrowing. Through this phenomenon, a word from the donor language enters the recipient language due to language contact. Due to differences in phonotactics and the various phonological rules that govern languages, loanwords undergo changes during this transfer to adapt to the structure of the recipient language. Arabic loanwords, likewise, must undergo the filtering of the Russian phonological system in order to be incorporated, so as to conform to its phonotactic and phonological rules. In this research, the process of lenition in Arabic loanwords in Russian language has been examined within the framework of Optimality Theory. The data for this descriptive-analytical study have been extracted from the "Dictionary of Foreign Words in Russian" compiled by Spirkin and his colleagues. The results of the study show that out of 149 loanwords examined, which were extracted through complete sampling, 29 words have undergone various types of lenition processes: spirantization, voicing, degemination, and deletion. In a general overview, the Russian language employs two strategies: deleting the foreign consonant or replacing it with the closest consonant available in Russian in terms of place of articulation.

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References

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Journal of Linguistics & Iranian Languages
Volume 11, Issue 2
August 2026
Pages 67-88

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History

  • Receive Date: 01 July 2026
  • Revise Date: 05 September 2026
  • Accept Date: 01 October 2026

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