A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

236 4 Nominal and pronominal morphology

se-ηα l-natt-asn

[PI more often 1-na-taen]

ae-ζαι ι l-zatt-aen

t-se-sa t-l-satt-en

'Leptadenia bush'

'young donkey'

'belly'

c. -...awan-

t-as-zoli ι

t-a-sori

t-akarya

t-i-zolyawan-en

t-i-soryawan-en

t-akaryawan-en

'metal' (A-grm T)

'hyena'

'firefinch' (R)

'dog' (d/d alternation)

'bull'

d. other phonological irregularities

edi l-yad-an

esu aswan-aen

[PI also regular PI esw-an]

t-a-raerasba t-l-rurba (rare) 'Mimosa shrub'

[usually with suffixal plural]

lyor ör-αη 'moon'

[Sg dialectally aeyyor, ewaerr]

t-a-zulek-k t-i-zula 'bit of kindling'

In (210.a), the 'mother' and 'father' terms are special forms used chiefly in
compounds and insults. In (210.b), the 1-Catt-aen plurals resemble the
1-CaPP-aen plurals (with ablaut plus suffixation) of the type se-kos 'container',
PI 1-kass-aen (§4.1.2.8-9). Since the singulars in (210.b), of shape se-Ca, have
only one visible C, one could argue that the t's in the plural forms are
nonlexical fillers. Niger dialects have similar 1-Catt-aen plurals for 'leaf,
'Leptadenia' and 'belly', but for 'waterbag at well' the A-grm plural 1-gatt-aen
is isolated; in Niger the plural is "igaggän" (LTF2 75) with the lexical C
repeated. For 'dog' (210.c), the d/d alternation is also present in Niger dialects,
but the extra y is not (LTF2 25).

4.1.1.27 Arabic plurals

The nouns in (211), all borrowed from Arabic, have ablaut plurals directly

borrowed from Arabic (often alongside regular Tamashek affixal plurals).

(211) Ablaut Plurals Borrowed from Arabic

singular plural gloss

aeddaewlaet addawal 'country'

[PI also also addawal-aen]

alqabll-aet aelqaebdyal 'clan, tribe'

aelkds alklsan 'drinking glass'