A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 185

(161) Stem-Initial Vowel Shift in Sg/Pl Pairs

singular plural gloss

a. ae to α (after stem-initial C)

t-e-daeyne t-i-dayniw-en 'Bauhinea tree'

t-e-faeqre t-i-faqriw-en 'infection'

t-e-haeyne t-i-hayniw-en 'date (fruit)'

t-e-laemse t-i-lamsiw-en 'plain(s)'

t-e-taeqve t-i-taqviw-en (K-f) 'date pit'

t-a-raerha t-i-rarhiw-en 'manner, stance'

t-a-nasdra t-i-nadriw-en 'impossible feat'

b. a to α (after stem-initial C)

t-a-nabre t-i-nabriw-en

[Sg also t-a-naebra]

t-a-ssmdeι ι t-i-samdiw-en

'night pasturing'

'coldness'

4.1.2.11 Stem-final vowel shifts before ...w- and PI suffix

As noted in §4.1.2.6, w or t commonly appears between a stem-final full vowel
and the vowel of MaPl -asn or FePl -en. The t cases generally involve no
change in the stem, and I take it to be a quasi-epenthetic suffixal element. On
the other hand, the w cases quite often do show changes in the preceding
vowel, and the w behaves more like a stem-final than a suffix-initial segment.
A generous sample of the w cases is displayed in (162). The shifts e to i, α to i,
and e to a, are all common. Leaving aside the prefixes and suffixes, the stems
in question are nearly always bisyllabic.

(162) Stem-Final Vowel Shifts Before Epenthetic w

singular plural gloss

a. e to i

t-lde t-adiw-en

t-adre t-adriw-en

t-ekle t-akliw-en

t-emdeι ι t-amdiw-en

t-ende t-andiw-en

t-erse t-ersiw-en

'sweat'

'co-wife'

'going'

'taste'

'mortar'

'wealth'

[PI also t-arsiw-en]

t-esne t-asniw-en

[Sg also t-esnasy (A-grm)]

t-esse t-assiw-en

'character'

'grass'