A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

264 5 Noun phrase structure

b. t-e-jaedet-t [an t-unte]

Fe-Sg-bird-FeSg [Poss female]

'female bird'

Another example involving an adjectival sense is in (257).

(257) e-m-aevt [n nae-zaegaeygay]

Sg-Agent-be.planted [Poss Sg-lofty]

'a lofty (towering) tree'

I view compounds with an as essentially appositional in nature, the PP

functioning much like a definite relative clause, as seen most clearly in (255).

Thus (257) could be literally glossed '(a) tree, a lofty one'. However, no pause

is necessary in Tamashek.

In addition to the compounds with specialized kin term as initial and

without an, discussed just below, there are some ordinary compounds with a

kin term as initial plus an and the final. An example is (258), where a-daeggal

'in-law' is used to denote a biological species that is similar to (but less

common or less important than) another species denoted by the final.

(258) a-daeggal [an dazi]

Sg-in.law [Poss herb.sp. (Sida ovata)]

'herb sp. (Sida cordifolia)'

5.2.4.2 Compounds involving kin terms or 'people'

The stems in (259) are used only as compound initials, without an. The kinship
glosses below ('son of X', 'daughter of X') can be literal, as when the
compound final is a human name (e.g. 'son of Ahmad'). They can also have
extended senses, as in 'son of X' used to indicate clan affiliation, where X is a
toponym or other term by which the clan is known, kael 'people of is used to
denote broader categories, such as entire clans, populations of towns, etc.

(259) Kin-Term Compound Initials

gloss compound initial

'son of aegg (before V), aew or ü (before C)

'sons of add aegg, add aew, d aegg, d aew

'daughter of waelt, waelaet; also t-aew or t-ü (before C)

'daughters of saett (most dialects), asset (A-grm)

'people of kael (Gentilic compounds, 'people of...')