A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

274 6 Prepositions

Before unaccented nouns of one or two syllables, the phrasal accent will

fall on the final syllable of the preposition. Even with unaccented

monosyllables, I know of no instance where the phrasal accent falls on the

penultimate syllable of a bisyllabic preposition like jannaj. However, with a

pronominal ending we get e.g. lSg jannaj-i 'over me', showing that there is no

fixed accent on the final syllable of the preposition (§6.5.4).

6.2 Pronominal suffixes with prepositions

The pronominal suffixes used with prepositions except Dative are those in

(272). For the forms of Dative clitics and their phonology, see §10.3.2. For

possessive suffixes on nouns, see §5.2.2.

(272) Pronominal Suffixes After Preposition (excluding Dative and Possessive

clitics)

person after V or C after V after C

lSg -i, -er

2MaSg -k -sk

2FeSg -m -am

3Sg -s -as

1P1 O-naev

2MaPl O-wwasn O-waen

2FePl O-kmaet

3MaPl O-ssaen O-saen

3FePl O-snast

The notation ( ") indicates that the preceding syllable (the word-penult)
must be accented. The Sg suffixes have no special accentuation properties and
are compatible with default accent on the word antepenult. This is most easily
seen with bisyllabic pre-pronominal forms jannaj-, fsella-, etc., where the
combinations with Sg pronominals have default accent (2MaSg jannaj-ak,
faella-k, while those with PI pronominals have a grammatically specified
penultimate accent (1P1 jannaj-nasY, fella-nasT).
The -er variant of the lSg is found in Timbuktu-area dialects, especially
T-ka, varying with -i. The -er variant was rejected by my Gao, A-grm, and Κ
informants, who use only -i.
The alternations of zero with schwa in 2MaSg, 2FeSg, and 3Sg can be
accounted for either as allomorphs, by assuming underlying /e/ and deleting it
by VV-Contraction after a V, or by assuming no underlying schwa and having
it inserted by Schwa Epenthesis.