A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

318 7 Verbal morphology

'coagulate' -aqqurhaes- -aqqurhas- rürhas

'get angry' -addukrae-t -addukra-t dükra-t

'boast' -abbaraej- -aebbaeraej- baeraej

'lie face down' -abbumbaey- -abbumbay- bümbay

'be able' -aeddobae-t -adabae-t däbas-t

[dialectally Shlmpf -aduba-t, Imprt duba-t]

'be wounded' -aebewaes- -aebawass- bawaes

'marry' -eedobasn- -aduban- düban

'be tested' -aen-emaes- -aen-amaes- n-amaes

'be adult' -aem-ewaed-I -aem-awaed- m-awaed

'milk' -aez-ozaej- -az-uzaj- z-üzaj

In (319.a), the basic stem (as in the Imprt) already has an initial short V. In
(319.b-d), Stem-Initial V-Insertion applies to the Shlmpf. In addition, we see
Stem-Initial Syncope in (319.b), and Q-Gemination in (319.c), but neither
applies to the Shlmpf in (319.d).
Causative Shlmpf forms are given in the same format in (320).

(320) Stem-Initial Processes in Causatives

gloss PerfP Shlmpf Imprt

a. 'imitate'

'count'

'make boil'

-ass-ajbaer-

-aess-odaen-ι

-aes-waes-

-s-ajbar-

-s-ldan-ι

-S-3W3S-

s-ajbar

s-ldan ι

S-3W3S

b. 'make shine' -aes-maelaewlaew- -s-ammalawlaw- s-smmsbwbw

'rave' -aes-laswlaew- -s-allawlaw- s-allawlas

While the usual stem-initial modifications apply to perfective stems of
causatives, their Shlmpf stems apply none of these processes to the Causative
prefix itself. However, Q-Gemination applies to the first C of a following
heavy (but not light) inner stem (320.b). For example, 'make shine' has a basic
representation -s-vmvlvwlvw- from already (super-)heavy inner stem
-mvlvwlvw-. Therefore the m is targeted by C,-Gemination in the Shlmpf
-s-ammalawlaw-.

7.2.3.2 Imperative positive stem (Imprt)

The usual positive imperative is of the short imperfective system (with no
subject prefix). There is also a long imperfective version of the imperative that
I call long imperative positive (§7.2.5.4), commanding the addressee to
perform recurrent acts, but it is not very common in positive imperatives.