Re: Metathesis?

On 8/28/05, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
> 
> Paul Bennett wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 20:29:48 -0400, caeruleancentaur
> > <caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> >
> >> The pronunciation by some Black Americans of "ask" as "aks" would be,
> >> I think, an example of this.
> >
> >
> > That's actually a rural English feature dating back at least as far
> > as Chaucer, though always recognised as nonstandard. Others here know
> > the exact details better than I.
> 
> Yes, it certainly survived till the 20th cent in rural Brit English and,
> for all I know, still survives here and there. It dates back even
> earlier than Chaucer, right back to the Saxon language brought here in
> the 6th cent. In Old English both _acsian_ and _ascian_ are found.
> 
> In Sussex dialect the _Vespa vulgaris_ was known as a _waps_ /wQps/. As
> a boy I knew, and used, both the dialect _waps_ and the standard English
> _wasp_ (and still occasionally use both forms :-)


Now that you mention it, there are a good few examples of metathesis in
colloquial Irish English, at least in my environment (Dublin). 

First, 'aks' occusr occasionally. I'm not sure about 'waps', but it reminds 
me
of an infamous local form - 'crips' for 'crisps' [we're talking about 
deep-fried
slices of potato here - Amerikanskij 'chips', ISTR]. It's not necessarily 
metathesis - maybe also omission of the first 's'. In any case, whatever
its origin, the singular is 'crip' now. I mention in passing that _crips_ 
are
sold in _pachets_ [p_hatS@ts].

There are more (and more authentic) examples of metathesis here, but
the slip my mind right now.

A game I find easier than 'gniklat sdrawkcab' is [that is pronouncing 'how
are things' as 'sgniht era woh', which my father delights in] is swpaing
cnosnoatns adn vwoles in seapch. Mchu easrie.

s.
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