Examples: (See Comments for key to special characters used.)

a. Type 1 metathesis: A consonant /r/ in a obstruent + /r/ context metathesizes with a schwa.

    grenier               [gr@nje]         [g@rnje]         ‘attic’ 
    prenait               [pr@nE]          [p@rnE]         ‘took’
    vendredi            [va~dr@di]      [va~d@rdi]      ‘Friday’ 

b. Type 2 metathesis: A word-initial single consonant /r/ metathesizes with a following schwa when the preceding word ends in a consonant..

    pour retourner        [purr@turne]   [pur@rturne]
    ‘to go back’

    d’êt’ revenue           [dEtr@v@ny]    [dEt@rv@ny]
    ‘to be back’

    Sosthèn’ regrettait   [sOstEnr@gretE]  [sOstEn@rgretE]
    'Sosthèn regretted'

    * When a preceding word ends with a vowel, there is no metathesis.

    a's'a retournée     [asar@turne]   [asarturne]   *[asa@r@turne]
    'she went back' 

    s'en a r'venue      [sAarv@ny]   [sAar@v@ny]   *[sAa@rv@ny]
    'she came back'

    * When the onset consonant is not /r/, no metathesis occurs.

    encor'm'nacé     [AkOrmnase]      *[AkOr@mnase]
    'threatened again'

    pour v'nir   [purvnir]         *[pur@vnir]
    'to come'
 

Motivation:

  Assuming a prosodic analysis where the initial syllable is degenerate in that it lacks a vocalic nucleus, schwa metathesis in Cajun French can be viewed as the result of a epenthesis process which will save the deficient syllable.

Comments:

@ = mid central lax vowel ('schwa')
E = mid-low front vowel
A = nasalized low back vowel
O = mid-low back vowel
 

Last updated: 10/16/2002