That is, markedness is a relative concept. It was devised by Prague School phonologists with reference to oppositions between segments. Similarly, if a language has nasalised vowels, these are a subest of non-nasal vowels. Sonorants are typically voiced, voicelessness being marked for such segments. Metathesis Metathesis is the transposition of two elements.
Spoonerism is also a form of metathesis.
The transposed elements do not have to be adjacent. The Middle English period is roughly 1100 - 1500. It is noted mainly for the large numbers of French loanwords which entered English in the centuries after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The language of Chaucer and the English of the 15th century is less difficult for modern readers to comprehend than earlier periods of ME, although it is easy to make the mistake that a word in ME has the same meaning in Modern English. Obstruents Obstruents are the class of consonants which comprises stops, aspirates, affricates, and fricatives.