Metathesis: Sound Transposition

Metathesis: Sound Transposition¹

Sabir Zhakaw

Metathesis is a phonological² phenomenon connected with the morphological³ domain of language and conditioned by several scientific factors within each language. First, what is metathesis, or sound transposition?

In this phenomenon, according to the phonetic and phonological system of each language, its articulatory domain and production mechanism, and the proximity and shared articulatory relations of its phones and sounds, two sounds or two syllables exchange their positions at some level of articulation and production.
That is, one or more sounds within the components of a word change position: a sound in the first syllable exchanges position with one in the second, or conversely a sound in the second exchanges position with one in the first. We often encounter words with no lexical or dictionary difference and exactly the same meaning, but whose letters occur in a different order. The same set of letters appears in two or more formal variants, carrying the same meaning without distinction. One or several letters may differ in position, but the difference and transposition have no phonemic function and do not change the word’s meaning. This often causes misunderstanding about language and the regional and ecolinguistic forms of its varieties: because a word differs by several letters, speakers may assume it does not belong to the language. Metathesis explains why this conclusion is mistaken. The phenomenon is related to the form and level of the user’s and speaker’s phonological system. It arises where phones in a sound sequence are not easily separated, especially in consonant clusters. Within each language’s phonological rules, articulatory and production conditions make it more prominent. It is particularly active in lowering, erosion, initial syllables, and borrowing.

Examples in Kurdish:
بەفر ـ بەرف
ڕفاندن ـ فڕاندن
دامەزراندن ـ دامەرزاندن
چوقاندن ـ قوچاندن
هەوراز ـ هەرواز
تەرزە ـ تەزرە
باڕەکڵە ـ باڵەکڕە
جومعە ـ جوعمە
خیز ــ زیخ
قیز ــ زیق: قیزاندن ـ قیژاندن ـ زیقاندن
قۆچیە ـ قۆیچە
دەروێش ـ دەورێش
جگەر ـ جەرگ
ڕوانین ـ نواڕین
شیتو ـ شوتی
تینو ـ تونی
ڕێنمۆیی ـ ڕێنمۆنی

Among elderly and non-literate groups, the phenomenon may depart from the natural environmental system and appear as an irregular pattern of perception, production, and word formation, as in:

سەقەت ــ سەتەق
فەقەت ـ فەتەق
ئەبزار ــ ئەرباز
شکوفە ـ فکوشە
مەکتەب ــ مەتکەب
لەعنەت ـ نەعلەت

The phenomenon was highly active in ancient and early languages, and many forms remain in modern languages. For example:
Avestan brwā, meaning brō, displays the same phenomenon in relation to New Persian abru and brwa.
Pahlavi suxr becomes New Persian surx, “red.”
Pahlavi varf, Kurdish bafr, and Persian barf.
Iranian carxā, Pahlavi caxr, Kurdish carx, and Persian carx.
Note: these processes differ from metathesis. Metathesis belongs within phonological and natural environmental phonetic systems, sociolinguistics⁴, psycholinguistics⁵, linguistic economy, and the distinctive condition of dyslexia⁶. In dyslexia, phonetic transpositions arise naturally according to a child’s speech acquisition and sound production. A child attempting to speak may transpose phones, pronouncing قەڵەم as قەمەڵ. At this level, the temporary natural phenomenon is not an established metathesis generated by the child’s particular ecolinguistic system. During language acquisition, softening, erosion, deletion, and assimilation also occur naturally and end as acquisition, word formation, and knowledge of the language are completed. The child then learns that قەڵەم is the established form and moves beyond the dyslexic process. With a pair such as بەفر/بەرف, the child learns that the language’s lexical system permits this transposition and that either form may be used.

Written by Sabir Zhakaw

Sources:

A Linguistic Inquiry 2, Sabir Zhakaw, University Press.
A Linguistic Inquiry, Sabir Zhakaw, University Press.
Phonetics and Phonology, Sabir Zhakaw, forthcoming.
Avashin Etymological Dictionary, Sabir Zhakaw, forthcoming.
Linguistics. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Hume, E. (2006). “Diachronic aspects of metathesis.” In Encyclopedia of Linguistics, edited by Kate Brown. Elsevier Ltd., 506–509.
Hume, E. (1998). “Metathesis in phonological theory: the case of Leti.” Lingua 104, 147, 178.
Stonham, J. (2006). “Metathesis.” In Encyclopedia of Linguistics, edited by Kate Brown. Elsevier Ltd.

Thanks and appreciation to the Pernus Centre for publishing the article:

https://www.pernus.org/show/152/detail

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