A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

196 4 Nominal and pronominal morphology

b. Sg stem accented, clear Lexical Accent Erasure in PI

e-baegg 1-baegg-an 'jackal'

ae-foll 1-foll-an 'Fula man'

[FeSg t-ae-folli-t-t]

e-laell 1-laell-an 'noble'

[FeSg t-e-laelli-t-t]

e-taell 1-taell-an 'turban'

e-nashaejj i-naehaejj-an (T-ka) 'what one deserves'

e-waelaenf i-wslaenf-an 'melon greens'

c. Sg stem accented, arguably VV-Contraction and Lexical Accent

Erasure in PI

e-daem i-daem-an 'gazelle'

[FeSg t-e-daemi-t-t]

e-daeww e-daeww I I i-daew-an 'gerbil'

[FeSg t-e-dsewwi-t-t]

e-kaezz i-kaez-an 'rooster'

[FeSg t-e-ksezi-t-t or t-e-käezzi-t-t]

e-maenn i-maen-an 'fish'

[cf. Fe t-e-mäenni-t-t 'carp']

α-wsrsakk i-warsakk-an (A-grm) 'kindling'

d. Sg with prefixal accent, PI with stem accent

e-hasd i-haed-αη 'night'

e-hasn i-haen-an 'home'

e-zaebb i-Z£eb-an 'large earring'

[Sg also e-zaeb]

In (173.a), the Sg has a lexical accent on the vocalic prefix. In the PI, the
accent is again on the vocalic prefix, but since this is now the word antepenult
it is now compatible with Default Accentuation. We therefore cannot
determine whether Lexical Accent Erasure has applied in the PI. In (173.b),the
Sg has accent on the stem (surface final syllable), but we get a default
antepenultimate accent in the PI. This indicates that Lexical Accent Erasure
has applied to the PI. This makes sense if we assume an underlying stem-final
V that is lost by VV-Contraction in the PI, provided that VV-Contraction
precedes Default Accentuation for these plurals. In (173.c), we get non-default
stem accent in both Sg and PI, so it would seem that no Accent Erasure has
applied in the PI. However, there is good reason here to posit an underlying
stem-final V that is deleted in the masculine Sg, preserved in related feminines
(for some stems), and undergoes VV-Contraction in the masculine PI, which
triggers Lexical Accent Erasure (the surface penultimate accent in e.g. PI
i-daem-αη would then be due to ordering Default Accentuation before
VV-Contraction). The few cases in (173.d) show Sg prefixal accent and PI