Metathesis (linguistics)
Transposition of sounds or syllables in words or sentences.
Metathesis is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence. It most commonly refers to the interchange of two or more contiguous segments or syllables, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis, but may also involve interchanging non-contiguous sounds, known as nonadjacent metathesis, long-distance metathesis, or hyperthesis. Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some even use it as a regular part of their grammar.
- field
- Linguistics
- known_for
- Transposition of sounds or syllables in words or sentences
- types
- Adjacent metathesis, nonadjacent metathesis (hyperthesis)
- languages_exemplified
- Hebrew, Fur, English, Spanish, Latin, American Sign Language, Amharic, Azerbaijani, Basque, Danish, Egyptian Arabic, Finnish, French
Lore & Background
Metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in English. The original form before metathesis may be deduced from older forms of words in the language's lexicon or, if no forms are preserved, from phonological reconstruction. In some cases it is not possible to settle with certainty on the original version. The process is responsible for some common speech errors, such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasketti. The word ask has the nonstandard variant ax; the spelling ask is found in Shakespeare and in the King James Bible and ax in Chaucer, Caxton, and the Coverdale Bible. The word 'ask' derives from Proto-Germanic *aiskōną.
Reader's Guide
Metathesis is a significant linguistic phenomenon that demonstrates how sound changes can reshape vocabulary across languages. It occurs in both historical sound changes and contemporary speech errors, as seen in English examples like 'nuclear' pronounced as 'nucular' and 'prescription' as 'perscription'. The process has shaped many English words historically, such as 'bird' from Old English 'bridd', 'horse' from 'hros', and 'bright' from 'beorht' via 'bryht'. Metathesis also appears in other languages as a regular grammatical feature, as in Hebrew and Fur, or as a common dialectal phenomenon in Basque and Finnish. In American Sign Language, metathesis can reverse the order of initial and final locations for certain signs within the same body region. The French informal speech pattern verlan deliberately creates new words by reversing syllable order, with 'verlan' itself being an example from 'l'envers'. The study of metathesis helps linguists understand phonological constraints and historical language change, though the original form before metathesis cannot always be determined with certainty.
Did You Know?
- The word 'ask' has the nonstandard variant 'ax', found in Chaucer, Caxton, and the Coverdale Bible, while 'ask' appears in Shakespeare and the King James Bible.
- In American Sign Language, the sign DEAF can have its locations reversed if the preceding sign has a final location more proximal to the jaw.
- The French informal speech pattern verlan creates new words by reversing syllable order; 'verlan' itself comes from 'l'envers'.
- The Old English verb wyrċan 'to work' had a passive participle ġeworht that underwent metathesis to wroht, becoming Modern English 'wrought'.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Metathesis (linguistics)?
Metathesis is a phonological process in which the order of sounds or syllables within a word is swapped. It can also operate at the sentence level, where words shift their relative positions.
What are Metathesis (linguistics)'s main types?
The two core categories are adjacent (local) metathesis, in which neighboring segments trade places, and nonadjacent metathesis—sometimes called hyperthesis or long-distance metathesis—where sounds separated by intervening material get reordered.
Which languages feature Metathesis (linguistics) as part of their grammar?
A broad set of languages exhibits the phenomenon, including Hebrew, Spanish, French, Danish, Finnish, Amharic, Basque, Azerbaijani, and Egyptian Arabic. In several of these, metathesis is not a one-off change but a rule-governed, productive part of the phonological or morphological system.
How does Metathesis (linguistics) show up in English?
In English it often surfaces in casual or child speech, such as producing 'aks' instead of 'ask' or 'schedool' for 'schedule.' Historically, many English words also carry traces of earlier metathesis that reorganized syllable order before the modern form settled.
Why is Metathesis (linguistics) important to the field?
It reveals how speakers naturally restructure sound sequences when the original order is articulatorily costly or phonotactically disfavored. Because the process appears across many unrelated language families, it also provides evidence for universal tendencies in human speech planning.
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