Metathesis in Language 2.0

Saanich

Language Family
Salishan
Subgroup
Straits Salish
Area
—

Summary

The actual form (a kind of imperfective) is formed by metathesizing the second root consonant and a following vowel.

Metathesis occurs when the vowel of a CVC root is a non-schwa and penultimate stress placement would otherwise cause stress to fall on a following /ə/-initial suffix.

Type(s) of metathesis

Type Status Optionality Position Location
a. CV Synchronic Obligatory Adjacent Root-internal
b. CV Synchronic Obligatory Adjacent Root-internal

Case types and qualities

Examples

a. When the root is CC, and it is followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel, such as /ət/ 'control transitive' or /əŋ/ 'control middle', the ACTUAL is formed by metathesis.

root: sq' ---> sq'ə́t ---> 'tear it' ---> sə́q't ---> 'tearing it'
root: t's ---> t'sə́t ---> 'break it' ---> t'ə́st ---> 'breaking it'

b.When the underlying form of a root is CCVC, the ACTUAL form appears as CVCC as the result of metathesis.

Metathesis occurs when the vowel of a CVC root is a non-schwa and penultimate stress placement would otherwise cause stress to fall on a following /ə/-initial suffix.

mátʃət ---> 'aim it' ---> mətʃátəŋ ---> 'it was aimed'
k͡p̥'ésət ---> 'scald it' ---> k͡p̥'sétəs ---> 'he scaled it'

Conditions

When the root is CC, and it is followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel, such as /t'/ 'control transitive or /ŋ'/ 'control middle', the ACTUAL is formed by metathesis.

q'p' --- xʷ-q'p'ət     'patch it'   --- xʷ-q'ə́p't     'patching it'
sq' --- sq'ə́t           'tear it'     --- s'ə́q't       'tearing it'

When the underlying form of a root is CCVC, the ACTUAL form appears as CVCC as the result of metathesis.

tɬ'pə́χ     'scatter'     ---     tɬ'ə́pχ     'scattering' 


When the penultimate syllable is a non-schwa, the metathesis does not occur.

Motivations

The actual aspectual morpheme consists of the addition of a single mora to the root's syllable structure. Metathesis occurs to satisfy this syllable weight requirements.

Symbols

C' = glottalized consonant
ts' = glottalized dental affricate
ɬ = voiceless alveolar lateral fricative
tɬ = voiceless alveolar lateral affricate
̥k͡p̥' = glottalized voiceless labio-velar stop

Comments

Bibliography

  • Montler, Timothy R. 1986. An outline of the morphology and phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish. University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics, No. 4.
  • Montler, Timothy R. 1989. Infixation, Reduplication, and Metathesis in the Saanich Actual Aspect. Southwest Journal of Linguistics. vol. 9 (1). University of North Texas Press.
  • Stonham, John. 1990. Current Issues in Morphological Theory. PhD dissertation. Stanford University.
  • Thompson, L. C. & M. T. Thompson. 1969. Clallam: A Preview. In Jesse Sawyer (ed.) Studies in American Indian Languages, University of California Papers in Linguistics 65: 251-294.
  • Thompson, L. C. & M. T. Thompson. 1969. Metathesis as a Grammatical Device. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35:213-219.