LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 27.JAN.2000 (05) [E]

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From:  "Ian James Parsley" <parsleyij at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (05) [E]

Ron et al,

I would have thought quite an obvious example of metathesis is "born"
vs.
"bruenn" in northern/southern German, where "born" is cognate to Scots
"burn".

There are piles of other examples I can think of, but one which is
directly
relevant is the tendency, at least here in Ulster, towards saying
"modren"
and "pattren" rather than "modern" and "pattern". It does seem to be
particularly common with liquid consonants and vowels, though I'm no
expert
on phonology generally.

I should add to those beginning to study linguistics that the word
"metathesis" is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable.

Best,
-------------------------------
Ian James Parsley
http://www.gcty.com/parsleyij
"JOY - Jesus, Others, You"

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Phonology

Ian wrote:

> I would have thought quite an obvious example of metathesis is "born"
> vs.
> "bruenn" in northern/southern German, where "born" is cognate to Scots
> "burn".
>
> There are piles of other examples I can think of, but one which is
> directly
> relevant is the tendency, at least here in Ulster, towards saying
> "modren"
> and "pattren" rather than "modern" and "pattern".

They are all good examples, Ian.  I guess you mean German _Brunnen_ 'well'
(and Dutch _bron_ 'well', 'spring', 'source').  (You find non-standard German
_...brünn_ in place names.)  The Low Saxon (Low German) cognate is _Born_
'spring', 'source' (not 'well', which is _Soot_ or _Spring_, only the latter
of which means both 'well' and 'source/spring').  So there's the CVL pattern
as in English _bourn(e)_ and Scots _burn_ (< OE _burna_).

However, all of these are sporadic cases of metathesis.  I did not mean to
give Peter and others the impression that this type of metathesis (CVL > CLV)
occurs *only* sporadically, though in West Germanic it seems to do so.

This type of metathesis took place consistently in a number of  Slavic
languages ; e.g.,

Proto-Slavic (PS) *_bêrg"_ 'land elevation', 'shore' > Polish (P) _brzeg_,
Czech (Cz) _br^eh_, Slovak (Sk) _breh_, Upper Sorbian (US) _brjoh_, Lower
Sorbian (LS) _brjog_, Polabian (Pb) _brig_, Serbo-Croatian (SC)_breg_,
Slovenian (Sl) _breg_, Macedonian (M) _breg_ (but Russian (R) _bereg_,
Ukrainian (U) _bereh_, Belorusian (Br) _berag^_; cf. Germanic: e.g., German
_Berg_ 'mountain', _bergen_ 'to save', 'to salvage')

PS *_gôrd"_ 'fortified settlement', 'fortress', 'town' > P _gród_, _Cz _hrad_
(cf. Sk _hrada_ 'garden', 'plot'), US _hród_, SC _grad_, Sl _grad_, Bulgarian
(Bg) _grad(ït)_, M _gradište_ 'former/ruined town', R _grad_ 'town' (but
_Novgorod_ "Newcastle", Ukrainian _horod_; cf. Germanic: e.g., Scandinavian
_gård_ 'yard', English _garden_)

PS *_melkó_ 'milk' > P _mleko_, Cz _mléko_, Sk _mlieko_, US _mloko_, LS
_mloko_, SC _mléko_, Pb _mlåkë_,  Sl _mléko_, M _mleko_, Bg _mljako_ (but R
_moloko_, U _moloko_, Br _malako_; cf. Germanic: e.g., English _milk_, Dutch
_melk_)

PS *_zôlto_ 'gold' > P. _z{l/}oto_, Cz _zlato_, Sk _zlato_, US _z{l/}oto_, LS
_z{l/}oto_, Pb _zlåtë_, Sl _zlato_, SC _zlato_, M _zlato_, Bg _zlato_ (but R
_zoloto_, U _zoloto_, Br _zolata_; cf. Germanic: e.g., English _gold_)

One might argue that there was an intermediate stage in the process: vowel
insertion (e.g., _melkó_ > *_melokó_) and that then the first vowel came to be
dropped (*_melokó_ > _mlokó_).  I assume that this would depend on stress
development in the individual languages.  In Dutch and Afrikaans you have this
type of insertion also, though it is not written, e.g., _melk_ ['mel at k].
However, I am not claiming that this type of metathesis depends on this type
of insertion, in Germanic, Slavic or anywhere else.

Best regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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