Metathesis in Language 2.0

French (Jersey)

Language Family
Indo-European
Subgroup
Romance, Gallo-Rhaetian
Area

Summary

Jersey French resembles Standard French as it also has a metathesis change *CVr > CrV.


There are also cases of *vr > rv change, although Spence (1990) claims that it does not affect all the *vr words.


Type(s) of metathesis

Type Status Optionality Position Location
a. CV Both/unknown Obligatory Adjacent Root-internal
b. CC Diachronic Obligatory Adjacent Root-internal

Case types and qualities

Examples

*virgata (Lat.) > vrɛʒiː 'local land measure of just under the half-acre'
*vertuculum (VLat.) > vrɛto


*ʃɛvrɛt > ʃɛrvɛt 'shrimp'


Conditions

No conditions could be found

Motivations

No motivations could be found

Symbols

Comments

Note that the author makes a disctinction between transposition (reordering of adjacent segments) and metathesis (reordering of non-adjacent segments).

Bibliography

  • Spence, Nicol 1990. ‘Sporadic’ changes in Jersey French. In J. Green and W. Ayres-Bennet (eds.), Variation and Change in French: Essays presented to Rebecca Posner on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday. New York: Routledge. 210-225.