A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 349

In the α/u subclass, the PerfP is again -aCCa- but the Shlmpf is -sCCu-.
All verbs of this type have a medial ungeminated cluster, i.e. -vPQi>. There
are quite a few stems in this subclass, but individually their text frequency
does not compare to those of the α/ι subclass. In the fairly small u/u subclass
(which includes some onomatopoeic verbs), both the PerfP and Shlmpf stems
are -9(C)Cu-. There is an even mix of -vPQu- and -vCu- shapes, along with
one case of -νΡΡυ-. in this subclass.

For α/u and u/u subclasses, nominal derivatives such as the VblN often
show stem-final w, which could suggest an original final *w lost in the
inflected verb forms. There are also some cases of w in VblN's for the α/ι
subclass. In any event, a stem-final υ is treated like a final vC synchronically
for purposes of defining "heavy" versus "light." Thus -v(C)Cu- is light, as is
-v(C)CvC-, while -CvCCu- is heavy (more specifically, middleweight), like
-CvCCvC-. In other words, a stem-final υ counts as though it contained an
autonomous C-position (cf. §3.4.1.4). However, we cannot assign these verbs
an underlying C 3 = w synchronically, since w appears in C-final stems like
-vjrvw- 'get'. Prasse's adventurous idea that at least the α/ι subclass derives
historically from stems with C 3 = h (MGT 7.109) is also synchronically
unimplementable because of C-final verbs like -vjdvh- 'be enough for'.

Verbs of the shapes -ΥΟΥ- and -DCCD-, with initial as well as stem-final
full V, treat the stem-final V either in the manner of the α/ι subclass or in that
of the α/u subclass, depending on the verb. See §7.3.1.15 for data and
discussion.
For reference, the three bisyllabic patterns are presented schematically in
(352), omitting some internal variation, using the most common shape -vPQi>.
The -νΡΡυ- and -vCu- shapes differ in the consonantism of long imperfectives,
and some -vPQu- verbs of the α/ι subclass have idiosyncratic long
imperfectives as well.

(352) Verb Paradigms, o/i, α/u, and u/u subclasses of -vPQu- Verbs

α/ι α/u u/u

a. perfective system

PerfP -aPQa- -aPQa-

Reslt -aPQa- -aPQd-

PerfN -aPQa- -aPQa-

-aPQu-

-aPQu-

-aPQu-

b. short imperfective system

Shlmpf /-aePQi-/ -aPQu-

Imprt /aePQi/ aPQu

-aPQu-

sPQu