Metathesis in signs

[Jörg Keller]

Dear Rachel,
in German the colloquial abbreviation for Hals-Nasen-Ohren (Arzt) = literally: throat-nose-ear (phycisian) => Engl.: ear, nose and throat specialist is HNO. 
In German Sign Language the same abbreviation is used but it is not the finger-spelled sequence H-N-O. Rather the sequence is formed by pointing (index finger) to the ear, nose and throat - in this order. This is a metathesis as it changes the original sequence of the referents of the letters that stand for the respective body parts to O>N>H. 
I suggest that the major reason for this kind of metathesis is the prosodic integration of the sequence into a monosyllabic one sign unit. This is backed by the uniform movement of the dominant hand; also, there is no additional hold needed at the point refering to the nose. 

What may be left open to explain is that the sequence begins at the upmost location. It seems to me that as far as phonology is concerned, it could just as well begin at the lowest location. So either this is a simple coincidence (=choice of one of two possible ways of phonological integration) or we need an extra reason that determines that signs (in isolation) preferably begin at high locations. Indeed, I favour this second analysis, as it seems to be a more general phenomenon to begin in higher locations (at least with in citation forms). I might well be that the reason for this is not specifically linguistic in nature, but rather cognitive (=f.e. a matter of structured perception) or motoric economy. 
Adopting the motoric assumption has the virtue to be more liberal. We can now easily give an account for the possible metathesis in signs such as DEAF in ASL too. This kind of movement reversal is sometimes found in German Sign Language too, f.e. in GEHÖRLOS (deaf). It is suggestive to attribute this to motoric economy which comes into play in sign sequences (allows for phonological and phonotactic assimilation) but may have different effects in isolated/citation forms.

Regards
Joerg Keller


****************
Dr. Joerg Keller
please use the following e-mail-address for replies:  
keller at lingua.uni-frankfurt.de