Subject: sum : metathesis

back in may i posted a query on both linguist and an-lang ( austronesian languages and linguistics ) asking for references on treatments of metathesis using recent phonological theory . i was mainly interested in synchronic metathesis of c / v type , which occurs pervasively in dawan ( w . timor ) which i was doing a bit of work on . this is a summary of responses on both lists , which came from : juliette blevins , bob blust , jim fox , beth hume , greg kinkley , john mccarthy , andy pawley , john stonham , mark taber , and aone van engelenhoven . it turns out that metathesis has come to play a fairly important role in recent discussions of morphological and phonological theory . also more and more examples of metathesis as a synchronic phenomenon have been coming to light in various language descriptions . austronesian languages have provoked considerable interest , with rotuman probably the best known ( e . g . besnier 1987 ) , letinese ( van engelenhoven ) and dawan ( steinhauer , tarno et al . ) becoming better known in the literature , and ( chuck and barabara grimes p . c . ) a number of other languages of eastern indonesia exhibiting varieties of metathesis waiting in the wings for examination by theoreticians ( e . g . christensen and christensen 1992 ; coward 1990 ; coward and coward to appear ; marshall 1991 ; steven 1990 ; taber and taber 1992 - references provided by mark taber ) . metathesis is a relatively rare phenomenon in natural language . in a climate where theoreticians are wanting more and more to let universal principles and constraints explain the output of grammars , it appears to contravene constraints that both phonologists and morphologists would like to impose on languages . an important change suggested in autosegmental theory which was designed to accommodate some crucial instances of metathesis without appealing to movement rules , was the segregation of c and v tiers , applied to rotuman in besnier ( 1987 ) . since then moves have been made to make constraints and their interplay the foundation of theory more directly , and the trend seems to be towards abandoning such devices as tier segregation , at least in optimality theory . in optimality theory , one of the constraints suggested is that segments should preserve their linear order ( linearity : mccarthy 1995 ) . obviously overridden in heavily metathesising languages like dawan . in approaches within optimality theory ( mccarthy , hume ) one principle can dominate another principle , and therefore override it . in c / v metathesising languages , under certain conditions a principle demanding ( morpheme - or word - ) final closed syllables dominates others which would achieve contrary effects , allowing metathesis to occur [ apologies for mangling complex arguments in an attempt at one-line summary ] . another problem raised by metathesis in the realm of morphology is noted by stonham ( 1994 : 141 - 2 ) : " it defies the use of concatenative accounts of morphological effects . . . it has been called upon as a key example of the need for process - based morphology in such works as anderson ( 1983 , 1992 ) , janda ( 1984 ) and zwicky ( 1988 ) " . stonham argues to the contrary that difficulties encountered by combinatorial morphology in handling metathesis do not show that the theory is inadequate or processes like movement rules are needed : rather the difficulties reflect the fact that metathesis does not occur as a grammatical marker . he reanalyses several instances of apparent grammatical metathesis as resulting from phonological processes . this approach looks promising , at least for dawan , where much of the metathesis looks as if it could be ultimately prosodically motivated , although i can't prove that right now . although blevins ( 1994 ) is more about such things as vowel length than metathesis directly , the approach , which emphasises looking at metathesis not as an isolated phenomenon , but in the context of a full prosodic analysis , is admirable . such analysis would need to take into account discourse conditioning too , as noted by mark taber for luang . references anderson , stephen r . ( 1983 ) rules as ' morphemes ' in a theory of inflection . in d . rood ed . proceedings of the 1983 mid - america linguistics conference . 3-21 . boulder : u colorado . anderson , stephen r . ( 1992 ) a - morphous morphology . cambridge university press . besnier , niko ( 1987 ) an autosegmental approach to metathesis in rotuman . lingua 73 : 201-223 . blevins , juliette ( 1994 ) the bimoraic foot in rotuman phonology and morphology . oceanic linguistics . 33 . 2 : 491-516 . christensen , john and sylvia ( 1992 ) kisar phonology . in : phonological studies in four languages of maluku . ed . by donald a . burquest and wyn d . laidig : 33-65 . dallas : the summer institute of linguistics . coward , david f . ( 1990 ) an introduction to the grammar of selaru . m . a . thesis . arlington : university of texas at arlington . coward , david f . , and naomi coward . ( in press ) a phonological sketch of the selaru language . to appear in pacific linguistics . hume , elizabeth ( 1995 ) a prosodic theory of metathesis . ms . ohio state university . hume , elizabeth ( in press ) beyond linear order : prosodic constraints and c / v metathesis . proceedings of flsm6 . indiana linguistics club . janda , richard ( 1984 ) why morphological metathesis rules are rare : on the possibilities of historical explanation in linguistics . bls . 10 : 87-103 . mccarthy , john ( 1989 ) linear order in phonological theory . linguistic inquiry 20 . 1 : 71-100 . mccarthy , john ( 1995 ) extensions of faithfulness : rotuman revisited . ms . marshall , craig ( 1991 ) a phonology of fordata . m . a . thesis . arlington : university of texas at arlington . mettler , toni and heidi ( ? ) phonological sketch of yamdena . working papers in indonesian language & culture 8 29 - 79 steinhauer , hein ( 1991 ) morphemic metathesis in dawanese ( timor ) . paper to 6th international conference on austronesian linguistics . steinhauer , hein ( 1994 ) [ ? title ] on metathesis in dawanese verbs , in : ger . p . reesink ed . topics in descriptive austronesian linguistics , semaian 11 , leiden : dep . of languages & cultures of s . e . asia & oceania : 130-158 . steven , lee anthony . 1990 . the phonology of roma , an austronesian language of eastern indonesia . m . a . thesis . arlington : university of texas at arlington . stonham , john ( 1994 ) combinatorial morphology . amsterdam : jon benjamins . taber , mark , and kathy taber . 1992-ms . a phonological sketch of the luang language . unpublished manuscript . tarno , wakidi , s . j . mboeik , p . sawardo , s . kushyaryanto ( 1989 ) tata bahasa dawan . proyek penelitan bahasa dan sastra indonesia dan derah nusa tenggara timur pusat pembinaan dan pengembangan bahasa departemen pendidikan dan kebudayaan . van der hulst , harry & aone van engelenhoven ( 1995 ) metathesis effects in tutukeian - letinese , in harry van der hulst & jeroen van de weijer eds . leiden in last , proceedings ( or papers ? ) of hilp 1 . the hague : holland academic graphics . zwicky , arnold ( 1988 ) morphological rules , operations and operation types . escol . 4 : 318-334 .
