A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

368 7 Verbal morphology

d. nominalization

VblN ά-hnaffi ä-darbi

Aside from the Augment itself, these verbs have ablaut patterns similar to
those of other verbs.
The vocalic melodies and stem-initial modifications of augmented verbs
are consistent with those already discussed for heavy C-final stems. In the
perfectives and the inflectable Shlmpf, Stem-Initial V-Insertion applies. For
superheavy stems whose basic form begins with a short-V open syllable, Stem-
Initial Syncope applies. For middleweight stems (which never syncopate), and
for superheavy stems whose basic form begins with CvCC... or Co..., we get
Ci-Gemination instead of Stem-Initial Syncope. The vocalic melodies are also
sensitive to overall heaviness and to the structure of the initial syllable of the
basic form, as for C-final stems.
The long imperfectives have a final full V (due to the χ-f ablaut
formative). When the final full V of these forms has melody, it may
appear as i or u, depending on the verb, with considerable interdialectal
variation for some verbs. The verbal noun ends in the same lexically basic
vowel.
More examples of augment verbs are given in (372), showing
representative MAN stem forms. Augment verbs that have a medial full V in
addition to the stem-final V are covered later (§7.3.1.16).

(372) Augmented V-Final Verbs

gloss PerfP Imprt LoImpfP

middleweight

a. -CvCu- (+ -t), <L> in LoImpfP

'be spotted' -abbakae-t bsekas-t -t-abaeka-t

'be plump' -addarae-t dserae-t -t-adaera-t

'be joyful' -addawae-t daewse-t -t-adaewa-t

'be cut' -aqqarae-t qserae-t -t-aqaera-t

'coil up' -allakae-t lsekae-t -t-alseka-t

'scatter' -awwasae-t waesse-t -t-awaesa-t

'run off w' -azzawae-t zaewae-t -t-azaewa-t

'be hard' -3ZZ3WcE-t zsewae-t I -t-azaewa-t I

b. -CvCu- (+ -t), <H> in LoImpfP

'lie low' -abbakae-t baekae-t -t-lbaku-t

'be slave' -akkalae-t kaelae-t -t-ikalu-t

'gather' -akkamas-t ksemae-t -t-ikamu-t

'curdle' -akkarae-t kaerae-t -t-lkaru-t

[LoImpfP also -t-akaera-t]