Examples:
(See Comments
for key to special characters used.) |
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When morpheme-final /s/ or /S/ (the only coronal fricatives in the language)
would be followed by morpheme-initial /h/ as the result of morpheme-final
vowel loss, metathesis applies. This is a regular process occurring
whenever these conditions are met.
| ahosI + hira |
ahohsIra |
*ahoshira |
‘not catching it’ |
| w + ama+Se +haka |
wamahSaka |
*wamaShaka |
‘let me cut it down’ |
There is another metathesis process involving certain CV sequences
that become VC when followed by certain suffixes or particles.
| hu --> uh |
I-huChu-ka-no |
uhuCuhkano |
*uhuChukano |
‘I peeled it.’ |
| hI --> Ih |
tI-ahothI-ke |
tahotIhke |
*tahothIke |
‘having wings’ |
| tI --> It |
ewtI-heno |
ewItheno |
*ewtIheno |
‘his brother, now dead’ |
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Conditions: |
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Deletion of a morpheme-final vowel conditions metathesis.
| ahosI + hira |
ahohsIra |
*ahoshira |
‘not catching it’ |
| w + ama + Se + haka |
wamahSaka |
*wamaShaka |
‘let me cut it down’ |
|
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Motivation: |
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No information currently available. |
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Related info: |
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In addition to the three fricatives involved in metathesis, i.e. s, S,
h, the language also has a bilabial fricative in its inventory. No
metathesis occurs with this sound. |
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Comments: |
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Special Symbols:
I = high central unrounded vowel ('barred i')
S = voiceless alveo-palatal fricative
C = voiceless palatal affricate
Last updated: 2/20/2001
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References: |
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Derbyshire, Desmond C. 1979. Hiskaryana. Lingua
Descriptive Studies 1. Amsterdam: North-Holland
Derbyshire, Desmond C. 1985. Hixkaryana and Linguistic
Typology. SIL/UTA Publications in Linguistics No. 76 Dallas:
SIL
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