Where does metathesis collide?

In chemistry, metathesis is a reaction in which two molecules exchange partner groups: in the general double-displacement meaning two salts swap ions, and in the celebrated olefin (alkene) case two carbon-carbon double bonds are cut and their ends reconnected to new partners. Calderon, Chen, and Scott's 1967 Olefin metathesis named the alkene version and recognised it as a single reaction class for rearranging unsaturated hydrocarbons, work that grew into a cornerstone of synthesis. The referent is the mutual exchange of groups between molecules, measured by the products formed, and it is unrelated to the linguist's meaning beyond the shared Greek root meaning transposition.[1]

Unit

The equilibrium distribution and yield of products from the exchanged groups

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Determined by product identification and yield (chromatography, spectroscopy) and by the position of the metathesis equilibrium

In linguistics, metathesis is a change in which two sounds within a word switch places: the historical shift that turned Old English brid into bird, or the common pronunciation of ask as aks. It appears both as a one-off slip and as a regular sound change in a language's history. Blevins and Garrett's 1998 The origins of consonant-vowel metathesis argues that many such reorderings arise from listeners misparsing the acoustic cues of a sound that is spread over time. The referent is the transposition of segments in speech, measured against the earlier or expected order, and it has nothing to do with molecules trading groups beyond the shared root.[2]

Unit

The reordering of segments relative to the historical or underlying sequence

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Established by comparing the attested form with its historical antecedent or underlying order across related words and languages