Metathesis in signs

[Rachel Channon]

Mark Mandel (thank you) tells me that my posting has strange letters in it,
so I am resending it and hope I have solved the problem.

>>It seems the sign for DAY (DAG) in Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT)
is such a sign; an index makes (single) contact on the cheek and in an
alternate form it can move away from (contact on) the cheek.

Dear Victoria,
Could you describe this sign and its variant for me in more detail? What is
its etymology? I am surprised and very interested, because there is a group
of signs, call them group A, that move toward the body and have only one
contact point.  They seem to be very simple signs which could be described
by listing their hand and body contact points and handshape and assuming
that moving toward a contact place is the unmarked or default action.  Two
examples are ASL MY and MOTHER.  MY moves toward, and contacts the chest
with the palm of a flat unspread hand.  MOTHER repeatedly moves toward and
contacts the chin with the thumb of a flat spread hand. But if there are
some signs that can move toward or away from a single contact point, then
the descriptions of signs in group A might need to include some indication
of direction such as toward.
  Thanks Rachel

P.S. Interestingly, the ASL sign for DAY seems to be reversible also.  The
strong hand and forearm move to contact the weak forearm in an
elbow-centered arc that is one-fourth of a circle. The strong arm can either
start in contact with (laying on top of) the weak forearm, or end in contact
with it.

Rachel Channon
University of Maryland
rchannon at speakeasy.net