HIXKARYANA
(Brazil; Carib, Southern Guiana)		 For more information about metathesis in this language, click on the following links:
Summary:
a. Morpheme-final /s/ or /S/ and morpheme-initial /h/ metathesize.
b. Some CV sequences become VC when followed by certain suffixes or particles.
Examples
Conditions
Motivation
Related info
Comments
References
Examples:
(See Comments for key to special characters used.)
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’

Conditions:
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’
 
Motivation:
No information currently available.
Related info:
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.
Comments:
Special Symbols:
I  = high central unrounded vowel ('barred i')
S = voiceless alveo-palatal fricative
C = voiceless palatal affricate

Last updated: 2/20/2001 
References:
  • 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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