The Process of Metathesis in English and Kurdish: A Phonological Study

Abstract

Metathesis is a phonological process whereby a sound hops out of its proper place and appears in another position within a word or words. Different views have been proposed about the nature of metathesis. Some believe it to be a minor sound change that affects a small portion of sounds; others claim that it is a common linguistic process that is found in almost all languages, hence, a universal process. The present paper is concerned with investigating metathesis in both in English and Kurdish so as to uncover the points of similarities and differences between the two languages. the study tries to follow a specific typology that can be applied to both languages so as to gain scientific objective results. The comparative analysis findings show that metathesis is more flexible in Kurdish than it is in English. What is more enthralling is the process of productivity. In both languages, the borders for the process have no limits.