A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 371

lexical full υ is specifically identified as a high vowel, i or u depending on the
verb. For verbs with both medial and final full V's, e.g. -CuCi>, -CuCCi>, and
-CDCCVCCD- (+ -t), see §7.3.1.14-15.
The simplest cases are those with medial α in the perfective, versus a
lexical choice of u or i in the imperfective stems and in the VblN. This is
typical of superheavy -CvCuCvC- with no medial CC clusters. MAN
paradigms for two representative verbs are given in (373).

(373) -CvCuCvC- (-CvCuCvC-) and -CvCiCvC-) Verbs

gape

-bvlulvr-

'do sorcery'

-kvrikvw-

a. perfective system

PerfP

Resit

PerfN

-aeblalaiY- -cekrakasw-

-abllalaer- -aklrakasw-

[Reslt dialectally -aebl.., -askl..]

-aeblalser- -aekrakeew-

b. short imperfective system

Shlmpf -ablular-

Imprt balular

c. long imperfective system

LoImpfP -t-lblulur-

LoImpfN -t-abluluY-

Prohib -t-abluluv-

-akrikaw-

karikaw

-t-lkrikiw-

-t-akrikiw-

-t-akrikiw-

d. nominalization

VblN a-blulav

a-blular

a-krikaw

a-krlkaw

Using the Imprt for citation purposes, other verbs with medial u like

balular include dakukam 'walk softly', daruram '(liquid) run', farurad 'eat

voraciously', garuras 'sing', ralural '(liquid) gurgle', haruhar 'migrate', and

karukar 'rotate'. Counterparts with i instead of u are considerably less

common, but parallel to karikaw I can cite namirak 'be in order' and waliwal

'be in motion'. The verb 'need' can go either way, both mavutar and maritar

being attested.

Since one set has medial u while the other has medial i in the

imperfectives and VblN, it seems clear that this V is lexical. It shows up

overtly in stems with <H> melody. The α in the perfectives is therefore due to

superimposition of a <L> melody, or (in my preferred analysis) the L

component of an underlying <H L> perfective melody whose Η component is

squelched by Stem-Initial Syncope and Leftward L-Spreading (§3.2.7). In