A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.2 Stem categories 307

d. nonadjectival, Resit has ί in penult after geminated Cb χ-pcl

audible

'be arrested' -att-armaes- -att-irmaes-

(phonetic [...asrm...]) (phonetic [...e'rm...])

'be variable' -annawwaer- -aennlwwaer- [K-d]

'raise (child)' -arrabba- -arribba-

e. like (d), Resit has i in antepenult or earlier, χ-pcl inaudible

'be slippery' -azzalbaebbaey- -azzllbaebbaey-

'be coarse' -affarsaessaen- -affirsaessaen-

f. nonadjectival, Resit has i after ungeminated C,, χ-pcl inaudible

'be joyful' -aehlasylaey- -ahllaeylasy-

'be ashamed' -aekrakaed--aekrakaed-• • -akirakasd-

(phonetic [ake'r...])

'need' -aermrataer- -amlrataer-

(phonetic [ame'r...])

'(hole) gape' -aexbabae-t -axlbabae-t

'hit each other' -aenm-aewast- -anlm-aewast-

'deserve' -senhaejja- -ariihaejja-

'cut up' -aeblsejbaelaej- -abilaejbaelaej-

'extinguish' -aes-maskas-t -as-lmaekas-t

'make go up' -aes-s-awaen- -asl-s-awaen-

g. nonadjectival, like (e) but targeted V already a full vowel, χ-pcl and

χ-pcl inaudible

'fear' -ammuttaesae-t -ammüttaesae-t

In the Resit stems in (310.a), both lengthening (χ-pcl) and accent (χ-pcl)
are audible. In (310.b), we hear a marked accent (x-pcl), but lengthening
(χ-pcl) conspicuously fails to apply, even though the relevant V is short. This
pattern is characteristic of verbs that are basically adjectival in nature. This
confirms the need for a grammatical distinction between nonadjectival (310.a)
and adjectival (310.b). In (310.c), the marked accent is audible but lengthening
(if present) is not, since the V in question is already a full V. The surface forms
in (310.c) therefore give us no clue as to which stems belong with the
nonadjectival verbs in (310.a), and which belong with the adjectival verbs in
(310.b). Presumably those with adjectival sense, like 'be brown', belong with
(310.b), but there is no way to prove this empirically.
In (310.d-f), we have an i in the Resit. As I analyse these forms, the i is the
result of applying χ-pcl to /a/ (after Melodic Association), where the relevant
schwa is the overt or underlying ν following the first C position of the stem.
For example, 'raise (child)' in (310.d) is -rvbbu- and 'be joyful' in (310.f) is
-hvlvylvy- in their basic lexical representation, and the first short ν is targeted
by χ-pcl, resulting in -arribba- and -ahllasylaey- after all rules have applied. In