A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 211

h. feminine counterparts of (g)

t-a-blülaeq-q t-i-blülar

i. stem-final cluster, masculine

as-faraeqq i-furaqq

j. final i treated as /sy/, masculine

as-mali i-mulay

ae-s-ali i-s-ulay

'lump, ball'

'Chrozophora bush'

'stud camel ' (Vmly)

'hook'

Because of the χ-f ablaut element, the plurals of both Sg - CuCuC-
(186.a-b) and Sg -CuCvC- (186.c-d) stems appear as -CuCaC- (186.b). The
examples in (186.e-i) show that consonant clusters (including geminates) in
any of the three intervocalic positions have no effect on the PI vocalism. Final
i is treated as /ay/ in (186.j), so the PI ends in ...ay.
For cases with PI i instead of u, see §4.1.2.13, below.
The «u α» PI vowel sequence can also occur with plurals of V-fmal stems
(187). Most unsuffixed V-final Sg bisyllabic nouns (i.e. masculines, and the
few feminines not ending in -t-t), have a suffixal plural involving MaPl -an or
FePl -en (§4.1.2.1) and so do not appear here, but a few instances are attested
(187.a-b). A much larger set of V-final stems with unsuffixed «u α» ablaut
plural are feminines whose Sg ends in i or e plus suffix complex -t-t (187.c).
Interestingly, all of the V-final stems in (187.a-c) have no lexical accent, so the
PI has default antepenultimate accent.

(187) Unsuffixed Plural Ablaut (V-Final Bisyllabic Stem, «u α» Sequence)

singular plural

a. Sg vowels full-full, masculine

se-rata 1-Yuta

[PI also i-rat-an]

se-jamba Ί-jumba

[PI more often i-jamb-an]

se-karfu "i-kurfa

b. feminine counterparts of (a), unsuffixed Sg

t-3-suyya t-l-suyya

c. feminine counterparts of (a), with Sg -t-t

t-3-düqqi-t-t t-l-duqqa

t-3-füqqi-t-t t-l-fuqqa

t-9-YÜbbe-t-t t-l-Yubba

t-3-hürji-t-t t-l-hurja

t-a-kruri-t-t t-l-krura (A-grm)

gloss

'crocodile'

'hippo'

'rope' (<Songhay)

'alfa grass'

'(a) poke'

'sprout'

'gulp'

'dream'

'ball'