On spoonerisms

Abstract

Besides their language competence, speakers/hearers exhibit a capacity to function metalinguistically & poetically. The level of language that appears to have been least studied from this point of view is (meta)phonology. Metaphonology is here understood to comprise all kinds of explicit awareness & conscious manipulation of the phonological resources of the language for a variety of purposes, from passing acceptability judgments on supplied strings, through word manufacture & style shifting, to verbal play & language games. This last use of metaphonological manipulation is discussed here. In particular, accidental & purposeful spoonerisms are considered & shown to be phonologically different from each other on several counts. It is claimed that the metaphonological use of language entails the application of processes & creation of representations that are qualitatively different, both in function & structure, from those appearing in "normal" phonation. 1 Table, 78 References. AA