Information AboutMetathesis (linguistics) |
|
METATHESIS IN ENGLISH The use of ''ax'' for ''ask'' goes back to Old English days, when ''ascian'' and ''axian/acsian'' were both in use. Some other frequently heard pronunciations in English that display metathesis are:
The process has shaped many English words historically. ''Bird'' in English was once ''bryd'', ''run'' was once ''irnan'', ''horse'' was ''hros'', ''wasp'' is also recorded as ''wæps'' and ''hasp'', ''hæps''. The discrepancy between the spelling of ''iron'' and the usual pronunciation is the result of metathesis. METATHESIS IN SPANISH Old and Syncope . Lunfardo , an Argot of Spanish from Buenos Aires , is fond of Vesre , a form of intentional metathesis that involves changes in the order of whole syllables as well as individual phonemes (''vesre'' is the inverted form of ''revés'' "back, backwards"). Gacería , an argot of Castile , also incorporates words formed through metathesis (''brica'' for "criba", for example). Some frequently heard pronunciations in Spanish that display metathesis are:
METATHESIS IN NAVAJO In Navajo , verbs have (often multiple) morphemes prefixes onto the verb stem. These prefixes are added to the verb stem in a set order in a prefix positional template. Although prefixes are generally found in a specific position, some prefixes change order by the process of metathesis. For example, prefix a-''''' (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before '''''di-''''', as in : ''adisbąąs'' 'I'm starting to drive some kind of wheeled vehicle along' < '' 'a-'' + ''di-'' + ''sh-'' + ''ł'' + ''-bąąs'' . However, when a-''''' occurs with the prefixes '''''di-''''' and '''''ni-''''', the a-''''' metathesizes with '''''di-''''', leading to an order of '''''di-''''' + a-''''' + '''''ni-''''', as in : ''di'nisbąąs'' 'I'm in the act of driving some vehicle (into something) & getting stuck' < ''di-'a-ni-sh-ł-bąąs'' < '' 'a-'' + ''di-'' + ''ni-'' + ''sh-'' + ''ł'' + ''-bąąs'' instead of the expected ''adinisbąąs'' ('''a-di-ni-sh-ł-bąąs'') (note also that ''''''a-''''' is reduced to ''''''-'''''). METATHESIS IN STRAITS SAANICH In Straits Saanich metathesis is used as a grammatical device to indicate "actual" Aspect . The actual aspect is most often translated into English as a ''be ... -ing'' progressive. The actual aspect is derived from the "nonactual" verb form by a CV → VC metathesis process (i.e. consonant metathesizes with vowel). See Montler (1986), Thompson & Thompson (1969) for more information. METATHESIS IN HEBREW In Hebrew the verb conjugation (''binyan'') ' (התפעל) undergoes metathesis if the first consonant of the root is an alveolar or postalveolar fricative. Namely, the pattern ' (where the numbers signify the root consonants) becomes ''hi1ta22ē3''. Examples:
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS BIBLIOGRAPHY
|