A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

metrical grid 303
objection to such features as the pronunciation or style of a previous or hypothetical
utterance.
metanalysis (n.) A term sometimes used in historical linguistics, referring
to the formation of a new lexical item through a wrong analysis of an existing
word boundary; for example in early English a naddre came to be heard in the
popular mind as an adder, which has become the modern form. It is a kind of
folk etymology.
metaphony (n.) A term used in phonology for a process of assimilation
which affects non-adjacent vowels in a word. The notion thus subsumes such
processes as vowel harmony and the type of phonological change which takes
place when a vowel changes its quality under the influence of a following vowel
(‘umlaut’), and is used both in synchronic and diachronic contexts.
metaphor (n.)
see conceptual metaphor
metarule (n.) A term used in linguistic theory to refer to a type of rule which
defines some rules in a grammar on the basis of the properties of others already
present in the grammar. Metarules are particularly important in generalized
phrase-structure grammar, where they derive immediate dominance rules
from immediate dominance rules. They allow the capturing of certain generalizations
which are handled by transformation in transformational grammar;
for example, the relation between active and passive sentences is captured by a
metarule deriving rules for passive VPs from rules for active VPs. Metarules, it
has been said, in effect provide a grammar which can be used for generating a
grammar – in other words, a metagrammar.
metathesis (n.) A term used in linguistics to refer to an alteration in the
normal sequence of elements in a sentence – usually of sounds, but sometimes
of syllables, words, or other units. Metatheses are well recognized in
historical linguistics (e.g. Old English brid becoming bird), but they can
also be seen in performance errors – in such tongue-slips as aks for ask, or
in the phenomenon of ‘spoonerisms’ (cf. the dear old queen becoming the queer
old dean).
metonymy (n.) A term used in semantics and stylistics, referring to a figure
of speech in which the name of an attribute of an entity is used in place of
the entity itself. People are using metonyms when they talk about the bottle (for
the drinking of alcohol) or the violins (in The second violins are playing well).
metric (n.)
see simplicity
metrical grid A formalism used in some approaches to metrical phonology
to display hierarchic patterns of syllabic prominence, presented graphically
in columns (for relative prominence) and rows (for rhythmical structure).
Each syllable is assigned a position on a metrical grid, strong syllables being
assigned progressively higher layers in the grid. For example, the grids for
thirteen men and antique settee would be: