Fronting of the voiceless velar plosive in Persian

The fronting of the voiceless velar plosive /k/1 in Persian2 has been described in several grammars. However, no complete study has been made of this phenomenon in different phonological environments. This article is an attempt to make a complete survey of the /k/ phoneme in Persian in different environments in order to establish allophonic rules for its pronunciation.Several linguistic consultants were recorded and their pronunciation of /k/ was analysed by means of the software Praat in order to determine the burst frequencies of /k/ in different phonetic environments. Palatographic analysis was conducted with one consultant. This investigation shows that the fronting of /k/ in Persian occurs word-finally, and when preceding a front vowel or a consonant. When followed by a back vowel /k/ is not fronted