A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

334 7 Verbal morphology

f. ksemm 0-s-afal-aed i-laemaw-äen-naem

2FeSg 2S-Caus-tan.LoImpfP-2SgS Pl-skin-MaPl-2FeSgPoss

[a-\s-kaem oyye-v]

[Dem-\Instr-\2FeSgO leave.PerfP- lSgS]

'You-FeSg were tanning your hides when I left you.' [K]

A habitual aspectual reading can be expressed using -rvymu- 'sit, remain'

plus a LoImpfP, at least in Κ dialect.

(336) asqqim-aev sall-aev [e brouette-taen]

sit.Reslt-lSgS hear.LoImpfP-lSgS [Dat wheelbarrow-MaPl]

gilluw-aer

go.LoImpfP-lSgS

Ί would (=used to) hear about "wheelbarrows" and I would go away.'

[K]

7.2.5.2 Long Imperfective Negative stem (LoImpfN)

The LoImpfN is used after Negative particle wsr (war before high V), as in

war i-t-adubun 'he does not marry'. The LoImpfN is constructed by applying

the ablaut components in (337) to the basic form of a verb.

(337) LoImpfN Ablaut

symbol description

a. vocalic melody

b. T-c2 gemination of second stem C

Τ -t- prefix

c. χ-f lengthening of final V

The LoImpfN, like the Prohib, lacks two key ablaut features that

characterize the LoImpfP: the marked accent (χ-pcl) and lengthening of the

first postconsonantal V (χ-pcl). The LoImpfN also imposes its own invariant

melody, whereas the LoImpfP and Prohib share the characteristic long

imperfective melody (, , or ) of the particular stem-shape class.

If the characteristic melody is or , the melody of the LoImpfN

is distinctive, so the LoImpfN is audibly distinct from the Prohib. If the

characteristic melody is already , the LoImpfN and Prohib stems are

indistinguishable.

Examples of the LoImpfN are given in (338), with the corresponding

LoImpfP shown for comparison. The LoImpfN forms in (338.a) are unique to