22 2 Overviewverbs), consisting of L (low) and Η (components). The melody is often
combined with one or more local ablaut formatives that target and modify
particular segments of the stem. Local formatives may geminate a C, may
lengthen or accent a V, or may convert a specific V to a different V. The
specifics of verbal ablaut are sensitive to the shape of the input stem.
Many nouns express PI by stem-ablaut in combination with a change in
vocalic prefix (and in some cases with a PI suffix to boot).
Verbs use internal ablaut to generate the set of stems mentioned in §2.5,
above. Some long imperfectives include a prefix -t- along with ablaut changes.
Ablaut is also part of nominalizations (VblN, agentive).
As noted in §2.1 (form of verb in definite relative clauses) and §2.3 (Prefix
Reduction of nouns in certain syntactic contexts), ablaut of a given word may
be sensitive to its immediate syntactic environment (local dependency).
Normally, the domain of ablaut is the stem proper, excluding affixes.
However, Prefix Reduction (which is as close as Tamashek comes to structural
case-marking) is a kind of "ablaut" confined to vocalic prefixes on nouns. In
addition, the ablaut domain of verbs with shapes like -v(C)Ci> is extended up
to the first C of a following subject suffix. In the perfectives, this permits the
verb stem plus (part of) the suffix to cobble together a v(C)CaeC sequence of
the sort required for audible expression of certain local ablaut formatives. I
interpret this as a special rebracketing, bringing (part of) the suffix for this
particular verb class (light V-final stems) into the domain of stem ablaut. For
other verb stems, including light C-final stems, a suffix is never affected by
ablaut, including stem-wide vocalic melodies.