LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (12) [E]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 26.JAN.2000 (12) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Reuben Epp [repp at silk.net]
Subject: LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (05) [E]

> From: Peter Stornebrink <frlboppe at direct.ca>
> Subject: Language dis-similarities
>
> Talking to my wife today about warts it struck me that the English and
> Dutch words are very similar except for a slight permutation of letters:
> English: wart
> Dutch: wrat
>
> My question are:
> Is there a reason for this dissimilarity?
> Can anyone think of other words that are likewise dissimilar as the result
> of a permutation (interchange of letters) in two or more Lowlandic words?

I think there are many similar instances. In Dutch, for example, the word
for English 'press' is 'pers.'

Reuben Epp

----------

From: Peter Stornebrink [frlboppe at direct.ca]
Subject: LL-L: "Phonology" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (05) [E]

>From: Peter Stornebrink <frlboppe at direct.ca>
>Subject: Language dis-similarities
>Talking to my wife today about warts it struck me that the English and
>Dutch words are very similar except for a slight permutation of letters:
>English: wart
>Dutch: wrat
>
>My question are:
>Is there a reason for this dissimilarity?
>Can anyone think of other words that are likewise dissimilar as the result
>of a permutation (interchange of letters) in two or more Lowlandic words?
>
>Peter Stornebrink, Victoria B.C.,
>Canada
>
>----------
>
>From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
>Subject: Phonology
>
>Peter,
>
>In the case of English _wart_ and its Dutch cognate _wrat_ you are dealing
>with a case of metathesis, i.e., transposing of two phonological segments, in

>this case of a vowel (/a/) and a liquid (/r/).  This tends to happen
>particularly where, like these, the two segments are similar, i.e., share
>certain articulatory features (i.e., liquids are vowel-like).  Strangely,
>though, it tends to occur not systematically but sporadically.  Where it
>happens late in the history of a given language, some dialects are affected
>while others are not.  In any case, it can only happen if a language variety
>permits such a metathesized configuration (in this case initial /wr/), and
>metathesis is more likely to occur in cases where a language variety
*prefers*
>such a configuration.  Oftentimes, some dialects of a given language will
have
>metathesis while others do not.
>
>Off the Lowlands track, I found that metathesis of initial /CVL/ to initial
>/CLV/ is almost consistently applied in *frequently-used* words in the
>little-known Turkic Yughur (or Yellow Uyghur) language (used in China).  This

>type of metathesis is unheard of in other Turkic languages, because they are
>strictly /CV(C)/-type languages in which /CLV/ is impossible.  What happened
>in the case of Yughur is that it has had centuries of contacts with Amdo
>Tibetan varieties which abound with words that have the initial cluster
/CLV/,
>and  certain numbers former Tibetan speakers assumedly adopted this Turlic
>language in that region.  This changed the possibilities and even preferences

>in the language to the degree where /CLV/ is now preferred over original
>/CVL/.  Thus, what in other Turkic languages is _dur_ 'is/are' has become
>_dro_ in Yughur.
>
>Another example of the same type of metathesis is Low Saxon (Low German)
>_dörven_ ~ _dröffen_ 'to be allowed to' (e.g., _ik dörv_ ~ _ik dröv/dröff_ 'I

>may').  Likewise, 'wart' is _Waart_ ~ _Woort_ in some Low Saxon dialects and
>_Wratt_ in others.  Since most Germanic languages have /ar/ rather than /ra/
>in the cognates of this word, we must assume that Dutch _wrat_ and Low Saxon
>_Wratt_ are metathesized forms.  (This particular kind of metathesis couldn't

>happen to German _Warze_ because German does not permit initial /wr/, at
least
>not initially or "natively," has it only in Low Saxon loans such as _Wrack_
>'wreck'.)  In the case of Dutch it so happens that the standard language
ended
>up with _wrat_.  However, I would not be too surprised if there were some
>Dutch dialects that have _wart_ instead.
>
>I hope this helped at least a little bit.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Reinhard/Ron

Ron,

Yes that was helpful. I am not surprised of receiving such an erudite reply
and am always amazed by what linguists know about their subject.

Regards,

Peter Stornebrink, Victoria B.C.,
Canada

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