Metathesis in signs

[Rachel Channon]

Dear Joerg (and other list members),
The reversal of throat-nose-ear to ear-nose-throat is interesting.  It
agrees with Brennan, Svaib, and Wallin, who say that signs crossing major
body areas move downward, (although in this case, I ª>  not sure a major body
area has been crossed - is the throat a part of the face body area?) I think
you're right it's a question of motor economy, but I'm not a phonetician.
However, the kind of sign I'm looking for are signs that can occur in EITHER
order. For example, if this sign can start at either the ear or throat:
ear-nose-throat or throat-nose-ear.  Or if the sign GEHORLOS can be made in
either direction (I don't know how this sign is made).
Information about free variation of order isn't usually found in sign
dictionaries, which is why I ª>  appealing to the list in the hopes that some
signers of other languages might have noticed this. I think it ª±  most likely
in signs moving side to side, especially signs referring to two symmetrical
body parts, such as eyes, nostrils, arms, breasts, legs or feet. It ª±  also
more likely in cases where the meaning relates to showing or pointing at two
objects or object parts where semantically the order doesn ª²  matter.  For
example, ASL BRIDGE uses the index and middle fingers of the strong hand to
contact the bottom of the weak forearm.  Here, the sign shows the two end
supports of the bridge. Semantically, it doesn't matter which support is
first, and it seems that this sign can be made in either order.
In some cases, the signer may make the sign in one direction only, but
recognizes the form made in the other direction as the same sign. For
example, I ª>  told that at some deaf schools, GOAT contacted first the chin
and then the forehead, and in other schools, it contacted first the
forehead, then the chin.  Signers recognized both versions as the sign GOAT.
If anyone can tell me about such examples in sign languages other than ASL,
I ªÝ  be most grateful, since the question of order reversal is an important
part of my dissertation, and I ªÝ  like to have evidence that it shows up in a
number of sign languages.
Rachel Channon
University of Maryland