A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

(Jeff_L) #1
7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 373

melody or as t-adaerhan- with melody; the latter may be influenced
by the related noun derhan '(a) wish'.
After the usual stem-initial changes in the perfective and inflectable
Shlmpf, the perfective melody operates on /-vhhussvl-/ to produce
(T-ka) -ahhussael-, consistent with the regular «Η Η L» surface melody found
in other perfectives with three syllables. In most dialects, we get -sehhussael-,
suggesting a variant tripartite melody, as in other stems with a medial
high V.
In the long imperfectives, the basic ablaut rules produce e.g. LoImpfP
/-t-ihussil-/, which actually surfaces as such in A-grm -t-lhussil-. In T-ka and
most other dialects, however, /-t-lhussil-/ must undergo u-Spreading to
/-t-ihussul-/ and then Medial V-Shortening due to the medial CC cluster to
/-t-ihassul-/ before surfacing as -t-lhassul-.
I now turn to middleweight verbs with no CC cluster, i.e. -CuCvC-.
Both full high V's are possible, hence -CuCvC- and -CiCvC- types. The latter
type has unstable vocalism as i alternates with a, so I begin with the more
straightforward -CuCvC- type. It is exemplified by the MAN stem paradigm of
'marry' in (375).
(375) -CuCvC- Stems

'marry'
-dubvn-

a. perfective system
PerfP
Resit
PerfN

-iedobaen-
-aedobaen-
-aedobaen-

b. short imperfective system
Shlmpf
Imprt

-aduban-
düban

c. long imperfective system
LoImpfP
LoImpfN
Prohib

-t-ldubun-
-t-adubun-
-t-adubun-

d. nominalization
VblN a-dübsn, a-duban

Others of this type, cited in the Imprt, are bubas 'be a cousin', büdar 'be
rude', dukal 'have sore feet', hunan 'have pity', hürar [ho'raer] 'fear', jüday
'express thanks', jüraj 'be free to move', kufar 'be a non-Muslim', kuyas

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