FUR
(Sudan; Nilo-Saharan, Fur)		 For more information about metathesis in this language, click on the following links:
Summary:
Metathesis of a stem initial consonant and a following vowel occurs with the prefixation of a consonantal person marker. If metathesis results in an /ml/ cluster, these segments are also metathesized.
Examples
Conditions
Motivation
Related processes
Comments
References
Examples:
(See Comments for key to special characters used.)
When a consonantal person marker (/j-/ ‘2nd sg.’, /k-/ ‘1st pl.’, /b-/ ‘2nd pl.’, etc.) is prefixed to a stem-initial consonant, the stem consonant metathesizes with the following vowel, as shown in (a). (For some stems, the initial consonant deletes. See related processes.)

a.    CV metathesis
 
verb root: with C prefix:
ba C-ab ‘drink’
leiN C-aliN ‘wake up’

If metathesis with the following vowel results in an /ml/ cluster, those segments are metathesized, as illustrated in (b). The consonant sequence /lm/ may optionally be assimilated to become [mm].

b.    CV and CC metathesis
 
bul *C-uml  C-ulm  ~   C-umm ‘find’
bel *C-aml C-alm   ~   C-amm ‘speak’

Conditions:
No information currently available.
Motivation:
Phonotactic Restriction (Jakobi 1990): Metathesis occurs to avoid a non-occurring consonant sequence in initial position and the inadmissable combination of consonants such as /ml/ in medial position. 

Perceptual Optimization (Hume 2000): By switching the order of a stem-initial consonant and following vowel, both consonants end up adjacent to a vowel. The initial consonant, which is a person marker, is more salient in this context than preconsonantally. 
Related processes:
a. /m/ surfaces as [b] in initial position, due to a process which neutralizes and strengthens the segment. 
b. When a verb stem begins with /j/ or /k/, metathesis fails to apply after prefixation of a consonantal person marker. Instead, the stem-initial consonant deletes.
 
verb root with C prefix
ja C-a  ‘put’
kar C-ar ‘enter’
Comments:
Special Symbols:
N = velar nasal

Last updated: 10/24/2000
References:
  • Hume, Elizabeth. 2000. The Role of Speech Perception in Phonology: The Case of Metathesis. Talk given at the Dept. of Linguistics, University of Chicago, 4/19/00.
  • Mielke, Jeff & Elizabeth Hume. 2001. Considerations of Word Recognition for Metathesis.  In E.Hume, N. Smith & J. van de Weijer, Surface Syllable Structure and Segment Sequencing. Leiden: HIL. 2001.
  • Jakobi, Angelika.  1990.  A Fur grammar.  Helmut Buske Verlag.  Hamburg.
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