English (North American)
- Language Family
- Indo-European
- Subgroup
- West Germanic
- Area
- —
Summary
Many North American English dialects have variable sound reversals in some lexical items, especially involving liquids.
Type(s) of metathesis
| Type | Status | Optionality | Position | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. CC/CV | Synchronic | Optional | Both | Root-internal |
Case types and qualities
-
- CC/CV
-
- C1:
- Any
- C2:
- Any
Examples
Consonant + Consonant:
Alternation:
[kɑmfɹ̩t], [kɑmftɹ̩bl̩] 'comfort, comfortable'
Variation:
[tʃɪpɔɫtɛ] ~ [tʃɪpɔtlɛ] 'Chipotle, Mexican restaurant'
Consonant and Vowel: [pɹəpoʊz] ~ [pəɹpoʊz] 'propose' (similarly, in other words beginning with 'pre')
[nuklɪɹ̩] ~ [nukjəlɹ̩] 'nuclear'
[ɹi:lətɹ̩] ~ [ɹi:l̩tɹ̩]'realtor'
Both C/V and C/C metathesis:
bɹɛkfɪs ~ bɹɛfɪks 'breakfast'
Conditions
No conditions could be found
Motivations
No motivations could be found
Symbols
Comments
Among others, Robin Dautricourt, Daniel Kiracofe, Bill Raymond, and John Goldsmith provided some of the examples.
Bibliography
- Alexander, James 1985. R-metathesis in English: a diachronic account. Journal of English Linguistics 18:33-40.