A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 201

e-maejael 1-m-ajl-an 'snake sp.'

e-naefaed 1-nafd-an 'firedrill'

e-raekaef l-rakf-an 'group of donkeys'

e-saebasr 1-sabr-an 'grass matting'

e-saeraen l-ssrn-an 'pestle'

e-saewaer "l-sawr-an 'flat area'

e-taefaer 1-tafr-an 'bottom of foot'

e-zaekaen Ί-zakn-an (K) 'rag tent'

1 -CvCuC (mainly -CaeCuC), PI -CaCC-an

a-daeras 1-dars-an 'Commiphora tree'

a-daewal 1-dawl-an 'young goat'

a-faeraj 1-farj-an 'tortoise'

a-kaebar l-kabr-an 'bucket'

a-kaebar l-kabr-an 'line of camels'

a-saefar Vsafr-an 'medication'

e-daeber Ί-dabr-an (A-grm) 'dove'

e-faekel 1-fakl-an 'shoes'

e-haeket l-hakt-an 'old tent'

[PI also 1-hkat]

e-laekef 1-lakf-an 'horse saddle'

e-saemed l-samd-an 'coldness'

a-daefor l-dafr-an (K, R) 'pillow'

a-jaerof 1-jarf-an 'croix de malte (plant)'

a-saerol 1-sarl-an 'young ram'

[PI more often l-sval]

a-baerij l-barj-an 'road'

[Sg also a-barij]

a-kaedil Τ-kadi-an I 'vagina'

[Sg also α-kadil; PI more often 1-kdal]

c. Sg -CvPPuC, PI -CaPC-an with Degemination (§3.4.2.2)

a-hajjar 1-hajr-an 'acacia pod'

α-nalluj 1-nalj-an 'ant'

[Sg also ά-nalj]

a-waeqqas "l-wavs-an 'beast, lion'

The PI type l-CaCC-αη is extremely productive for Sg nouns of the shapes
e-CaeCasC, as in (178.a), and υ-CvCuC, as in (178.b). As usual in such
formulae, ν is a short vowel and υ is a full (=long) vowel. (178.c) shows
Degemination of a medial geminate.
The PI pattern 1-CaCC-an has (disregarding the PI prefix) a surface vocalic
sequence «9 α» that is compatible with the melody and the χ-f (final V-
length) component of standard, nonsuffixal plural ablaut. We can therefore
generate the plurals from the singulars by adding MaPl suffix /-aen/ and then