Metathesis

[Seth Cable]

Hi James,

>  As far as I know it's extremely rare in Tlingit, though that could  
> be just because I've never looked for it.


That it exists at all in Tlingit is news to me!  What cases do you  
have in mind?

> Is there any literature which addresses metathesis in the Athabaskan  
> family?


The only thing which comes to mind that's vaguely related is the work  
by Joyce McDonough and others on how prefix position in (I think)  
Navajo and (I think) some other languages sometimes varies depending  
upon the surrounding prefixal material.  If I recall correctly, the  
common view on this phenomenon is that the underlying positions of the  
prefixes are switched to make a better sounding syllable in the end.   
That's certainly kinda like metathesis, if not a definite case of it.   
(but, it's got nothing to do with lateral affricates and fricatives  
per se, though...)

I wish I could remember the references off the top of my head, but I  
think looking through Joyce McDonough's book on Navajo phonology might  
put you on the right track...

Best,

-- Seth.

====================================
Seth Cable
scable at linguist.umass.edu
Department of Linguistics
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
226 South College
150 Hicks Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9274
United States
413-545-0885
http://people.umass.edu/scable





On Nov 16, 2009, at 3:42 AM, James Crippen wrote:

> A fellow graduate student is doing some crosslinguistic investigation
> of metathesis phenomena and asked me about metathesis in Athabaskan
> languages. As far as I know it's extremely rare in Tlingit, though
> that could be just because I've never looked for it. Is there any
> literature which addresses metathesis in the Athabaskan family? I
> don't recall seeing anything specific on this issue, but I'm certainly
> not that well read. My colleague is specifically interested in
> metathesis of lateral affricates and fricatives, but I suppose
> anything would be interesting.
>
> Thanks,
> James