CHEROKEE
(Eastern and Northeastern Oklahoma, Western North Carolina; Southern Iroquoian)		 For more information about metathesis in this language, click on the following links:
Summary:
In the derivation of the second singular forms, there is a reordering of a glide and glottal fricative.
Examples
Conditions
Motivation
Additional info
Comments
References
Examples:
(See Comments for key to special characters used.)
Counterfactive  Cislocative
/yi-hi-nega/  -->   [hyinega]  /wi-hi-nega/   -->   [hwinega]  'you'
cf. Counterfactive Cislocative
     yi-ji-nega  wi-ji-nega  'I'
     yi-ga-nega wi-ga-nega  'he'
Conditions:
Deletion of the vowel 'i' conditions metathesis.
  •  i-deletion: The vowel 'i' deletes when preceding a second singular form.

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       /yi-hi-nega/   -->   [yhinega]   -->   [hyinega]    'you (S), counteractive'
                          i-deletion           metathesis

       /wi-hi-nega/   -->   [whinega]   -->   [hwinega]   'you (S), cislocative'
                          i-deletion          metathesis
    Motivation:
    Phonotactic Restriction (Foley 1980): In Cherokee, there are no cases of clusters of a glide plus a non-vocalic segment except in a couple of instances, e.g. dlayka 'bluejay'. This phonotactic restriction has been seen as the motivation for metathesis of a glide and glottal fricative.
    Additional information:
    No information currently available.
    Comments:
    Last updated: 3/27/2002

    Thanks to Darin M. Howe (University of Calgary) for contributing information relevant to this page.
    References:
  • Flemming, Edward. 1996. Laryngeal metathesis and deletion in Cherokee. UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics 16: Cherokee Papers from UCLA, ed. by Pamela Munro, 23-44.
  • Foley, Lawrence. 1980. Phonological Variation in Western Cherokee. Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics. Garland Publishing: New York & London.
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