4.1 Noun morphology 227(204) Syncope and Accent Reattachment in Plural (except A-grm)
a. Syncope (onset of plural noun)
In unsuffixed ablaut PI /-CaCu.../, with a preceding vocalic
prefix (i- or reduced "'s-), the schwa is syncopated.b. Accent Reattachment
A marked accent (lexical or grammatical) that is unattached
following Syncope re-attaches to the first V to the left.Many Sg noun stems have dialectal alternations of the type T-ka -CaCV...
versus other dialects' -CaeCV..., where V is a high vowel {u a i}. These T-ka
Sg stems do not syncopate, hence T-ka e-dahi 'sand' versus other dialects'
e-daehi. The failure of the T-ka nouns to syncopate poses a problem for the
view that Syncope is a straightforward phonological (as opposed to
morphophonological) rule. To salvage the straight phonological analysis, one
could argue that T-ka has underlying /ae/ in these stems, and (after Syncope
fails to apply) raises /ae/ to a by Short-V Harmony.
A noun meaning 'finger' has the form α-sakad in R and Κ (K-d and K-f)
dialects, with PI i-sakad that fails to undergo Syncope. This pattern is
replicated in the feminine variant t-a-sakat-t used in the Timbuktu area (T-k,
T-md) and attested as a variant in K-d, with PI t-i-sakad. The failure of
Syncope to apply in these dialects is unusual, but the Im dialect has geminated
ss in a-ssakad, and geminated ss is reported for the Algerian Tuareg cognate.
Since Syncope is blocked by a preceding (as well as by a following) CC
cluster, the variant with ss explains (at least historically) why Syncope fails to
apply to the PI of this stem.
There are some apparent accent shifts in FeSg/FePl pairs, of the type Sg
t-a-darnu-t-t 'millet beverage', PI t-l-dama. However, these do not require a
special accent shift rule. FeSg suffix -t is incompatible with antepenultimate
accent (§3.3.1.1), so in t-a-damu-t-t the schwa will be accented by Default
Accentuation whether or not it has an underlying lexical accent. The fact that
we get antepenultimate (i.e. default) accent in the PI t-l-darna tells us that the
stem has no lexical accent. The Sg stem is therefore unaccented /-davnu-/, and
both Sg and PI acquire their surface accent by regular rules. See (187.c) and
(189.e,g) in §4.1.2.16 for more examples.
4.1.1.23 Ablaut PI with medial gemination (t-i-CaPPaC, etc.)In (205), we see a number of cases where a medial ungeminated C in the Sg is
geminated in the unsuffixed ablaut plural. This plural is productive with
t-a-CCaC-t VblN forms (205.a), and sporadic with Sg stems (nearly all
feminine) of the basic shape -CvCuC- (205.b-c). Most -CvCuC- Sg stems have