Metathesis in Language 2.0

Kabardian

Language Family
Northwestern Caucasian
Subgroup
Circassian
Area
—

Summary

A palatal glide and a following vowel switch order after a non-syllabic segment.

Type(s) of metathesis

Type Status Optionality Position Location
a. CV Synchronic Obligatory Adjacent Suffix

Case types and qualities

Examples

/mə-ya/ -->
/m-ya/ -->
[me:y]
wild apple-one of
'wild apple tree'
/da-ya/ -->
/d-ya/ -->
[de:y]
nut-one of
'nut tree'
 

Conditions

a. Vowel deletion before a glide onset conditions metathesis.

C V G (G) V --> 1 Ø 3 4 5 G = [-round]
1 2 3 4 5

/mə-ya/ --> /m-ya/ --> [me:y] wild apple-one of 'wild apple tree'

Motivations

No motivations could be found

Symbols

ʃ = palato-alveolar fricative
ɑ = low back unrounded vowel
qʰ = aspirated voiceless uvular stop
χʷ = labialized voiced uvular fricative
t' = glottal ejective alveolar stop
kʷ' = labialized glottal ejective velar stop

Comments

Bibliography

  • Colarusso, John. 1992. A Grammar of the Kabardian Language. University of Calgary Press: Calgary, Alberta.