Metathesis in Language 2.0

Oromo

Language Family
Afro-Asiatic
Subgroup
Cushitic
Area
—

Summary

An ejective alveolar stop and alveolar nasal metathesize.

Type(s) of metathesis

Type Status Optionality Position Location
a. CC Synchronic Obligatory Adjacent Between root and suffix

Case types and qualities

Examples

fit’ + na ---> ‘finish + we’ ---> (fint’a --> finɗa) ---> ‘we finish’
lit’ + na ---> ‘enter + we’ ---> (lint’a --> linɗa) ---> ‘we enter’

Conditions

Metathesis affects only coronals. When an ejective velar stop occurs before /n/, metathesis fails to apply.
nak’ + na ---> ‘put on + we’ ---> nak’na ---> *nank’a ---> ‘we put on’

Motivations

Perceptual Enhancement (for related discussion see Hume 1998): Prevocalic position is a particularly favorable position for the realization of stop consonants, given the presence of both a vowel transition and release burst in this context. In preconsonantal position, on the other hand, no audible release of the stop is present. Thus, shifting the ejective alveolar stop to prevocalic position may strengthen the syntagmatic contrast between the stop and contiguous nasal. In the case of nasals, anticipatory coarticulation in the form of vowel nasalization on a preceding vowel provides cues to the nasal's manner of articulation.

Symbols

Comments

Bibliography

  • Hume, Elizabeth. 1998. The Role of Perceptibility in Consonant/Consonant Metathesis. In Blake, Susan, Eun-Sook Kim, and Kimary Shahin (eds.), WCCFL XVII Proceedings. Stanford: CSLI. 293-307.
  • Lloret-Romanyach, Maria-Rosa. 1988. Gemination and vowel length in Oromo morphophonology. PhD. dissertation. Indiana University.