In the transition of Persian from Old Persian (OP) to Middle (MP) and finally New Persian (NP), there is a significant phonemic change: reduction of VCV to V (V = vowel; C = consonant). That is to say, VCV reduces to either V's of VCV and consequently, C and the other V disappear:
| Avestan or Old Persian | Middle Persian | New Persian |
|---|---|---|
| shiyâti | shâti —> shâdi | shâdi |
| chavant | chant —> chand | chand |
| duvar | dar | dar |
| khshâyathiya | shâha —> shâh | shâh |
New Persian being more than 1100 years old, has also experienced this pattern. There are many reductions both in the standard dialect and regional dialects. Interestingly, in some dialects a different V has been picked out, resulting in having, for example, «minam» and «monam» from «mikonam».
| Before | After | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| mishavam | misham | nevardebâm | nardebâm |
| miravam | miram | khwâhar | khwâr |
| mikhwâham | mikhwâm | pirâhan | piran |
| midaham | midam | barâdar | barâr |
| mitavânam | mitânam —> mitunam | khâsiye [1] | khâye |
| miguyam | migam, migum | khodemun | khomun |
| miyâvaram | miyâram | ||
| miyâyam | miyâm | ||
| migozâram | mizâram | ||
| mikonam | minam, monam | ||
| mibinam | minam | ||
| midânam | minam | ||
| rafte budam | raftudam |
[1] This phonemic rule can help us in retrieving the older form of words. I found khâsiye in a dictionary about the dialect spoken in Shahr e Bâbak and its neighboring regions. khâsiye should be the older form of khâye.