A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.2 Stem categories 339

b. wser basddaed

Neg get.up.Prohib

'Don't-Sg get up!'

c. wasr raejjsn-aet

Neg get.up.Prohib-Imprt.2MaPl

'Don't-MaPl get soiled!'

d. waer rasjjaen-maet

Neg get.up.Prohib-Imprt.2FePl

'Don't-FePl get soiled!'

e. waer-\t awwat-aet

Neg-\3MaSgO hit.Prohib-Imprt.2MaPl

'Don't-MaPl hit him!'

An example of a Prohib stem ending in α is -jaenna- 'say'. The Lolmpf

prohibitive clauses for this verb are 2Sg waer jaenna, 2MaPl waer jaenna-haet

(note the h), and 2FePl waer jaennä-maet. For 2MaPl, I once recorded waer

jaenne-haet.

The PerfN prohibitive and the Lolmpf prohibitive were both verified for

K-d: waer t-sqker-aed = waer naekkaer 'don't get up!'.

A form resembling the Prohib, but (except for light verbs with 3FeSg

subject) containing a marked accent, occurs in definite relative clauses. This

is actually the LoImpfP after syntactically triggered erasure of χ-pcl (length),

with or without an additional rightward shift in the accent (§3.5.3.1). Thus

with 3MaSg subject we have ordinary LoImpfP i-bdddaed 'he gets up',

becoming i-baeddaed (erasing length but retaining accent) in definite relatives.

Compare waer baeddaed 'don't-Sg get up!' with unaccented Prohib stem.

7.2.5.4 Long imperative

The LoImpfP stem is occasionally used as an imperative, with the usual

imperative endings: zero for 2Sg, C)-aet for 2MaPl, and O-maet for 2FePl.

This construction has the sense that we would expect, viz., an imperative with

scope over multiple occurrences or over an extended time span, rather than a

single immediate instance as with most imperatives. This form is therefore far

less common than the regular imperative, which is built on the Imprt stem

(short imperfective system). For example, the usual 2Sg imperative for 'get

up!' is abdad (2MaPl sbdsd-aet, 2FePl abdad-maet) with the Imprt stem, but if

the command is intended to apply to an extended time span it can appear as

bdddaed 'get up! (regularly)' with the LoImpfP stem. The plural-subject forms

are 2MaPl baddaed-aet and 2FePl baddäed-maet. Textual examples are in (344).