Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
7298611 Lingua 2013 21 Pages PDF
Abstract
The main properties of r-metathesis in English are its bi-directionality, variability and the attractive biases towards r created by some consonants but not by others. This article argues that a fully predictive and explanatory account of r-metathesis must consider evidence from two areas: phonetics and language use. On the perception side, the indeterminacy of the temporal organization of sequences involving r is an effective predictor of the instability of metathesis. The proposed analysis makes reference to extended phonetic cues and intrusive vowels that appear in the context of rhotics. The language-specific frequency of occurrence of phonotactic patterns is held responsible for the greater chance of some clusters to arise through metathesis than others. It is demonstrated that r-metathesis is best defined as a listener-initiated process rooted in perception. concepts like markedness have no obvious role to play as the process does not optimize syllable structure, nor does it improve on featural similarity.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Arts and Humanities Language and Linguistics
Authors
,