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Metathesis (linguistics)

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Metathesis (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; from Greek Template:Wikt-lang, from Template:Wikt-lang "to put in a different order"; Latin: transpositio) is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence. Most commonly, it refers to the interchange of two or more contiguous segments or syllables, known as adjacent metathesis<ref name="Strazny">Template:Cite book</ref> or local metathesis:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

  • anemone > **anenome (onset consonants of adjacent syllables)
  • cavalry > **calvary (codas of adjacent syllables)

Metathesis may also involve interchanging non-contiguous sounds, known as nonadjacent metathesis, long-distance metathesis,<ref name="Strazny"/> or hyperthesis,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as shown in these examples of metathesis sound change from Latin to Spanish:

Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some even use it as a regular part of their grammar, such as Hebrew and Fur. The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in English as well.

The original form before metathesis may be deduced from older forms of words in the language's lexicon or, if no forms are preserved, from phonological reconstruction. In some cases it is not possible to settle with certainty on the original version.

Rhetorical metathesis

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Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a historian and scholar in rhetoric living in 1st century BC Greece. He analysed classical texts and applied several revisions to make them sound more eloquent. One of the methods he used was re-writing documents on a mainly grammatical level: changing word and sentence orders would make texts more fluent and "natural", he suggested. He called this way of re-writing metathesis.Template:Citation needed

Examples

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Template:More citations needed section

American Sign Language

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In ASL, several signs which have a pre-specified initial and final location in reference to the body of the person signing (such as the signs RESTAURANT, PARENT, or TWINS) can have the order of these two locations reversed in contexts which seem to be purely phonological. While not possible with all signs, this does happen with quite a few. For example, the sign DEAF, prototypically made with the "1" handshape making contact first with the cheek and then moving to contact the jaw (as in the sentence FATHER DEAF), can have these locations reversed if the preceding sign, when part of the same constituent, has a final location more proximal to the jaw (as in the sentence MOTHER DEAF). Both forms of the sign DEAF are acceptable to native signers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A proposed prerequisite for metathesis to apply in ASL is that both signs must be within the same region on the body. Constraints on the applications of metathesis in ASL has led to discussions that the phonology breaks down the body into regions distinct from settings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Amharic

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Amharic has a few minor patterns of metathesis, as shown by Wolf Leslau.<ref>p. 27, 28. Wolf Leslau. 1995. Reference Grammar of Amharic. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden.</ref> For example, "matches" Template:IPA is sometimes pronounced as Template:IPA, Template:IPA "nanny" is sometimes pronounced as Template:IPA. The word "Monday" is Template:IPA, which is the base for "Tuesday" Template:IPA, which is often metathesized as Template:IPA. All of these examples show a pair of consonants reversed so that the stop begins the next syllable.

Azerbaijani

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Metathesis among neighbouring consonants happens very commonly in Azerbaijani:

Danish

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Some common nonstandard pronunciations of Danish words employ metathesis:

But metathesis has also historically changed some words:

Egyptian Arabic

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A common example of metathesis in Egyptian Arabic is when the order of the word's root consonants has changed.

The following examples of metathesis have been identified in Egyptian Arabic texts, but are not necessarily more common than their etymological spellings:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The following loanwords are also sometimes found with metathesis:

The likely cause for metathesis in the word "hospital" is that the result resembles a common word pattern familiar to Arabic speakers (namely a Form X verbal noun).

Perhaps the clearest example of metathesis in Egyptian Arabic is the modern name of the city of Alexandria: (Template:Italic correction)Iskandariya (Template:Lang). In addition to the metathesis of x /ks/ to /sk/, the initial Al of Alexandria has been reanalyzed as the Arabic definite article.

English

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Metathesis is responsible for some common speech errors, such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasketti. The word ask has the nonstandard variant ax pronounced Template:IPA; the spelling ask is found in Shakespeare and in the King James Bible<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd. ed., under "ask".</ref> and ax in Chaucer, Caxton, and the Coverdale Bible.Template:Cn The word "ask" derives from Proto-Germanic *aiskōną.Template:Citation needed

Some other frequent English pronunciations that display metathesis are:

The process has shaped many English words historically. Bird and horse came from Old English Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Lang;Template:Citation needed Template:Lang and Template:Lang were also written Template:Lang and Template:Lang.

The Old English Template:Wikt-lang "bright" underwent metathesis to Template:Lang, which became Modern English Template:Wikt-lang.

The Old English Template:Wikt-lang "three" formed Template:Wikt-lang "thrid" and þrēotene "thriteen". These underwent metathesis to forms which became Modern English Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang.

The Old English verb Template:Wikt-lang "to work" had the passive participle Template:Wikt-lang "worked". This underwent metathesis to Template:Lang, which became Modern English Template:Wikt-lang.

The Old English Template:Wikt-lang "hole" underwent metathesis to þryl. This gave rise to a verb Template:Lang "pierce", which became Modern English Template:Lang, and formed the compound Template:Lang "nose-hole" which became Modern English Template:Wikt-lang (May have occurred in the early Middle English Period: "nosþyrlu" (Template:Circa 1050); "nos-thirlys" (Template:Circa 1500). In 1565 "nosthrille" appears; "thirl"/"thurl" survived even longer, until 1878).

Metathesis is also a common feature of the West Country dialects.Template:Citation needed<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Kurdish

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In Kurdish no example has been found according to which sounds exchange places and this, in turn, clarifies the claim that metathesis in Kurdish is sporadic and irregular.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

  • Maktab > Matkap
  • Tasbih > tabsih
  • tarza > tazra
  • qopche > qoch-pe

Finnish

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In western dialects of Finnish, historical stem-final /h/ has been subject to metathesis (it is lost in standard Finnish). That leads to variant word forms:

Some words have been standardized in the metathetized form:

Sporadic examples include the word Template:Wikt-lang "green", which derives from older Template:Wikt-lang, and the vernacular change of the word Template:Wikt-lang "jovial" to Template:Wikt-lang (also a separate word meaning "bristly").

French

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Etymological metathesis occurs in the following French words:

Deliberate metathesis also occurs extensively in the informal French pattern of speech called verlan (itself an example: Template:Lang < Template:Lang, meaning "the reverse" or "the inverse"). In verlan new words are created from existing words by reversing the order of syllables. Verlanization is applied mostly to two-syllable words and the new words that are created are typically considerably less formal than the originals, and/or take on a slightly different meaning. The process often involves considerably more changes than simple metathesis of two phonemes but this forms the basis for verlan as a linguistic phenomenon. Some of these words have become part of standard French.

A few well known examples are:

Some Verlan words are metathesized more than once:

Greek

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In Greek, the present stem often consists of the root with a suffix of y (Template:Lang˰ in Greek). If the root ends in the vowel a or o, and the consonant n or r, the y exchanges position with the consonant and is written i:

  • *cháryō > chaírō "I am glad" — echárē "he was glad"
  • *phányō > phaínō "I reveal" — ephánē "he appeared"

For metathesis of vowel length, which occurs frequently in Attic and Ionic Greek, see quantitative metathesis.

Hebrew

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In Hebrew the verb conjugation (binyan) hitpaēl (Template:Lang) undergoes metathesis if the first consonant of the root is an alveolar or postalveolar fricative. Namely, the pattern hiṯ1a22ē3 (where the numbers signify the root consonants) becomes hi1ta22ē3. Examples:

Hebrew also features isolated historical examples of metathesis. For example, the words Template:Lang keves<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> and Template:Lang kesev<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> (meaning "lamb") both appear in the Torah.

Hindustani

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Like many other natural languages Urdu and Hindi also have metathesis like in this diachronic example:

Sanskrit Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Lang) janma Template:IPA > Urdu Template:Lang and Hindi Template:Wikt-lang janam Template:IPA "Birth"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

More examples

Hungarian

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In case of a narrow range of Hungarian nouns, metathesis of a h sound and a liquid consonant occurs in nominative case, but the original form is preserved in accusative and other suffixed forms:Template:Citation needed

The other instances are Template:Wikt-lang [intestinal] villus/fluff/fuzz/nap vs. bolyhok, Template:Wikt-lang vs. molyhos down/pubescence [on plants], and the obsolete Template:Wikt-lang animal's fetus (cf. vemhes "pregnant [animal]"). The first of them is often used in the regular form (Template:Wikt-lang).

Japanese

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Template:More citations needed section

The following are examples of argot used in the entertainment industry.

Lakota

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  • The words Template:Lang and Template:Lang are dialectal variants of the same word, meaning "abalone" or "porcelain".<ref name="newlakota1">New Lakota Dictionary, Lakota Language Consortium, 2008</ref>
  • The word Template:Lang, meaning "rib," has its origins in Template:Lang "side of the body" and Template:Lang "bone", but is more commonly metathesized as Template:Lang.<ref name="newlakota1" />

Malay (including Malaysian and Indonesian variants)

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Metathesis from earlier protoform, though not so prevalent in Malay, can still be seen, as in the following:

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *uʀsa > Template:Wikt-lang "deer"
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *qudip > Template:Wikt-lang "alive"
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *dilaq > Template:Wikt-lang "tongue"
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian: *laqia > Template:Wikt-lang "ginger""

Loanwords can also be products of metathesis. The word tembikai "watermelon" is a metathesis of mendikai borrowed from Template:Langx.<ref>Hoogervorst, Tom (2015). "Detecting pre-modern lexical influence from South India in Maritime Southeast Asia". Archipel. 89: 63–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/archipel.490 </ref>

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In Navajo, verbs have (often multiple) morphemes prefixed 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 Template:Spell-nv (3i object pronoun) usually occurs before Template:Spell-nv, as in

Template:Lang "I'm starting to drive some kind of wheeled vehicle along" [ < Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv].

However, when Template:Spell-nv occurs with the prefixes Template:Spell-nv and Template:Spell-nv, the Template:Spell-nv metathesizes with Template:Spell-nv, leading to an order of Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv, as in

Template:Lang "I'm in the act of driving some vehicle [into something] and getting stuck" [ < Template:Spell-nv < Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv + Template:Spell-nv]

instead of the expected *Template:Spell-nv (Template:Spell-nv) (Template:Spell-nv is reduced to Template:Spell-nv).

Prakrit

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Prakrit lost many of its consonant clusters from Sanskrit to aspirates due to metathesis. Clusters with /h/ also became reversed.

Proto-Indo-European

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Metathesis has been used to explain the development of thorn clusters in Proto-Indo-European (PIE). It is hypothesised in the non-Anatolian and non-Tocharian branch, a coronal followed by a dorsal *TK first assimilated to *TsK, and thereafter underwent metathesis to *KTs, so *TK > *TsK > *KTs.<ref>Template:Cite Q</ref>

PIE [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂ŕ̥tḱos|Template:PIE]] "bear" (cf. Hittite Template:Lang) > Template:PIE > Template:PIE (cf. Sanskrit [[wikt:ऋक्ष|Template:IAST2]], Ancient Greek ἄρκτος)
PIE [[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/dʰéǵʰōm|Template:PIE]] "earth" (cf. Hittite Template:Lang) → zero-grade Template:PIE > Template:PIE > Template:PIE (cf. Sanskrit [[wikt:क्षम्|Template:IAST2]], Ancient Greek χθών)

Punjabi

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Punjabi sometimes corrupts loanwords via metathesis:

  • Arabic: matlab > matlab > matbal "meaning"

Some dialectal words in Punjabi also form due to metathesis, such as in Malwai:

Romanian

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Similar to the French verlan is the Totoiana, a speech form spoken in the village of Totoi in Romania. It consists in the inversion of syllables of Romanian words in a way that results unintelligible for other Romanian speakers. Its origins or original purpose are unknown. Its current use is recreative.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Rotuman

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The Rotuman language of Rotuman Island (a part of Fiji) uses metathesis as a part of normal grammatical structure by inverting the ultimate vowel with the immediately preceding consonant.

Slavic languages

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Template:Main

Metathesis of liquid consonants is an important historical change during the development of the Slavic languages: a syllable-final liquid (*r or *l), always preceded by a short vowel (*e or *o), metathesized to become syllable-initial. However, the exact outcome of the change varies across the different Slavic languages.

A number of Proto-Indo-European roots indicate metathesis in Slavic forms when compared with other Indo-European languages:

PIE non-Slavic reflexes Proto-Slavic Slavic reflexes
Template:Wikt-lang English Template:Wikt-lang, Latin Template:Wikt-lang, Lithuanian Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Old Church Slavonic Template:Wikt-lang (gradŭ), Czech Template:Wikt-lang, Polish Template:Wikt-lang, Kashubian Template:Wikt-lang, Russian Template:Wikt-lang (górod), Serbo-Croatian Template:Wikt-lang
Template:Wikt-lang English Template:Wikt-lang, Lithuanian Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Old Church Slavonic Template:Wikt-lang (mlěko), Czech Template:Wikt-lang, Polish Template:Wikt-lang, Russian Template:Wikt-lang (molokó), Serbo-Croatian Template:Wikt-lang or Template:Wikt-lang
Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Wikt-lang) English Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Old Church Slavonic Template:Wikt-lang (ramo), Czech Template:Wikt-lang, Polish Template:Wikt-lang, Russian Template:Wikt-lang (rámja), Serbo-Croatian Template:Wikt-lang

Metathesis also occurred sporadically in individual Slavic languages:

Scots Gaelic

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Dùn Breatann, the Gaelic name for Dumbarton meaning 'Fort of the Britons' sees 'Breatann' morphing into '-barton' in English.

Spanish

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Old Spanish showed occasional metathesis when phonemes not conforming to the usual euphonic constraints were joined. This happened, for example, when a clitic pronoun was attached to a verb ending: it is attested that forms like Template:Lang "leave [plural] him" were often metathesized to Template:Lang (the phoneme cluster Template:IPA does not occur elsewhere in Spanish). The Spanish name for Algeria (Argelia) is likely a metathesis of the Arabic name for the territory (Template:Transliteration).

Lunfardo, an argot of Spanish from Buenos Aires, is fond of vesre, metathesis of syllables. The word Template:Lang itself is an example:

Gacería, an argot of Castile, incorporates metathesized words:

Some frequently heard pronunciations in Spanish display metathesis:

Straits Salish languages

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In the Salishan languages Northern Straits and Klallam, 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 metathetic process (i.e., consonant metathesizes with vowel). Examples from the Saanich (SENĆOŦEN) dialect of Northern Straits:

     T̵X̱ÉT "shove" (nonactual) → T̵ÉX̱T "shoving" (actual)
     ṮPÉX̱ "scatter" (nonactual) → ṮÉPX̱ "scattering" (actual)
     T̸L̵ÉQ "pinch" (nonactual) → T̸ÉL̵Q "pinching" (actual)

See Montler (1986,<ref>Montler, Timothy R. 1986. An outline of the morphology and phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish. Missoula: University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics No. 4.</ref> 1989,<ref>Montler, Timothy. 1989. Infixation, Reduplication, and Metathesis in the Saanich Actual Aspect. Southwest Journal of Linguistics 9.92-107.</ref>2015<ref>Montler, Timothy. 2015. Klallam Grammar. Seattle:University of Washington Press.</ref>) and Thompson & Thompson (1969)<ref>Thompson, Laurence C. and M. Terry Thompson. 1969. Metathesis as a grammatical device. International Journal of American Linguistics Vol. 35, No. 3 (Jul., 1969), pp. 213–219</ref> for more information.

Swahili

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In Swahili, some foreign words can undergo metathesis during their importation. For instance, "American" becomes "mmarekani".

Telugu

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From a comparative study of Dravidian vocabularies, one can observe that the retroflex consonants (Template:IPA) and the liquids of the alveolar series (Template:IPA) do not occur initially in common Dravidian etyma, but Telugu has words with these consonants at the initial position. It was shown that the etyma underwent a metathesis in Telugu, when the root word originally consisted of an initial vowel followed by one of the above consonants. When this pattern is followed by a consonantal derivative, metathesis has occurred in the phonemes of the root-syllable with the doubling of the suffix consonant (if it had been single); when a vowel derivative follows, metathesis has occurred in the phonemes of the root syllable attended by a contraction of the vowels of root and (derivative) suffix syllables.<ref>Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju Telugu Verbal Bases Motilal Banarsidass Publ. Template:ISBN p. 51–52.</ref> These statements and the resulting sequences of vowel contraction may be summed up as follows:

Type 1: V1C1-C² > C1V1-C²C²

Type 2: V1C1-V²- > C1V1-

Examples:

  • lē = lēta "young, tender" < *eɭa
  • rē = rēyi "night" < *ira
  • rōlu "mortar" < oral < *ural

Turkish

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Two types of metathesis are observed in Turkish. The examples given are from Anatolian Turkish, though the closely related Azerbaijani language is better known for its metathesis:

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See also

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Notes

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General references

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References

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nn:Metatese#Metatese i språk

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