A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 359

occurs in contexts where clitics attach to the preceding Neg particle, and in

combinations either with no suffix or with an Imprt-type MaPl or FePl suffix

that imposes its own accent. However, the stem-final deletable l\l in the

LoImpfN is counted, hence war Τ-bass 'he does not vomit' (from /waer

i-bassi/) and war bassa-n 'they-Ma do not vomit'. For this reason, in suffixed

LoImpfP cases like [sassasn] from /sassA-sen/ 'they-Ma drink', one could

transcribe either sassas-n or sdssae-n. I choose the latter, somewhat arbitrarily.

There are a number of lexical idiosyncrasies within the α/ι class, mainly

having to do with the formation of the long imperfectives. This is not

surprising, since some of these verbs are very common. (363) summarizes

basic data on regular and irregular members of this subclass that have a medial

cluster. There are suggestions of a template /-CaPPA-/ in the LoImpfP, with C

and PP filled in various ways.

(363) -v(C)Cu- Verbs of α/ι Type

gloss PerfP Imprt LoImpfP (word-final)

a. 'vomit' -absa- sebs -bass-

'be poured' -stfa- <etf -ddff-

'laugh' (Vdz) -atsa-I sets I -ddzz-

'be implanted' -3Yta- sert -ratt-

'kill' -3r)Ya- segr -naqq-

'lie down' -snsa- sens -nass-

b. 'study' -srra- srar [aeraer] -Yarr-

'go away' -sjla- ajsl -jdll-

c. 'weep' (Vhl) -alha- £lh -hall-

d. 'excuse' -ansa- sens -noss-, -ndzz-

'be sold' [same forms as for 'excuse']

e. 'go to' -skka- sekk -t-dkk-

f. 'eat' -aksa- aeks -tatt- (or -t-att-)

'give' -skfa- a:kf -hdkk-

g- 'drink' -aswa- 3S3W (asü) -sdss-

h. 'weave' -azza- aezz -zatt-

'be ripe' -aqqa- -nagq-

i. 'say' -anna- senn -jann-