A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

5.2 Possession and compounding 267

suffixation and/or stem-ablaut on the noun, leaving the compound initials

unchanged. Vocalic prefixes on the noun undergo Prefix Reduction as after

prepositions. The initial gets phrasal accent when the final is unaccented and

has no more than two syllables.

(261) erk compounds

noun gloss compound gloss

haeraet 'thing' erk haeraet 'a bad thing'

haerast-aen (PI) erk haeraet-aen 'bad things'

e-daegg 'place' erk ^ae-daegg 'a bad place'

i-daegg-an (PI) erk "0-daegg-an 'bad places'

t-a-maser-t 'campsite' t-erk nt-a-maser-t 'a bad campsite'

t-i-msar (PI) t-erk ''t-a-msar 'bad campsites'

A textual example is (262).

(262) t-assdn-aed-\daer-saen w-i i-ha

2S-know.Reslt-2SgS-\in-3MaPl Ma-Dem.Pl 3MaSgS-be.in.Reslt

[erk aelmaekasr] dar [y Vrazzej]

[bad sign] too [Dat Sg-livestock]

'You-Sg know the ones among them (=foods) in whom there is a bad

effect ("sign") for the livestock.'

5.2.4.5 Compounds with-hcen- 'house'

The stem of the noun e-haen 'house' occurs in a number of somewhat frozen

compounds as an initial element, in the form -haen- or -han- (cf. also verb

-hunv-, PerfP -aehona- 'move out.PerfP', and kin term haenni 'wife'). The

compounds known to me are tabulated in (263). The compounds function

morphologically like unsegmentable stems (e.g. for plural marking).

(263) Compounds with -haen-

a. e-haen-daegg 'location (of a thing)'

a-haen-zabbu 'host (of a traveler)'

b. α-han-s-awat 'crossing river (VblN); crossing place, ford'

c. a-han-s-adak 'good camping spot'

a-han-s-adal 'playing field'