5.1 Nominal modifiers 251The similarity between plural ly-aed '(some) ones' and the stem yyaed-
(arguably underlying /iysed-/) in these frozen participles is suggestive. For
Niger Tamajak, LTF 132 gives MaSg "hzedan" etc. for « autre ». Although in
Tamajak this may combine phrasally with 'one' ("ayyän hädän" « un autre »),
the two stems are clearly different, there being no h in 'one'. On the other
hand, there is a natural semantic association between indefinite 'one(s)' and
definite '(the) other'. In antithetical parallel constructions ('one stayed, the
other left'), the difference between 'one' and 'the other' is blurry, both
referents being equally (in-)definite in discourse context. In neighboring
Songhay languages, for example, the definite form of 'one(s)' is used in
precisely this sense. Whether or not etymologically identical, the Tamashek
forms for 'one' and 'other' are closely associated by native speakers.
Elicitation using (French) cues of the type 'another man' and 'other men' (i.e.
indefinite 'other') produced examples with postnominal 'one(s)' using the
forms in (231): ae-halas ly-aen 'another man', medd-asn ly-aed 'other men'. It
seems, then, that the 'other' forms in (233) function synchronically as definite
counterparts to the indefinite postnominal forms in (231).
Another way to express '(the) other X', or more precisely 'that other X'
(that we were talking about before) is by adding a demonstrative ending in
Near Distant -di, as in t-a-mastt tas-di 'that other woman' (R dialect).
5.1.2.4 Numerals greater than 70'Terms for decimal units '20' to '90' are expressed by combining a numeral
'2' to '9' with the plural noun t-l-marw-en 'tensomes'. The latter is the plural
of t-a-maera 'tensome, group of ten', which is irregularly related to meeraw
'ten'. The initial numeral agrees with t-l-marw-en in gender and is therefore
always feminine (Fe suffix -aet on the numeral is often elided). Examples:
saendt(-aet) "t-a-marw-en '20', s3mmds(-a2t) 't-a-msrw-en 'fifty'. If the
quantified-over noun is present, it appears with Possessive preposition η after
the decimal numeral: ssenat "'t-a-msrw-en η nae-ril 'twenty forearm spans
(elbow to finger, of fabric)' (K dialect).
Complex numerals ('11', '37', etc') consisting of a decimal unit and a
simple numeral are expressed as conjunctions. The decimal term comes first. If
the noun denoting the referent is overt, it is attached to the decimal term. The
single-digit numeral then follows in its "trailing" form (§5.1.2.1), agreeing in
gender with the referent (234.a-b).
(234) a. maerdw medd-aen ad sasmmos
ten man-MaPl with five
'fifteen men'