A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

456 8 Verbal derivation

(463) List of Causatives of -vPQu- Verbs, a/i Subtype

gloss PerfP Imprt VblN

a. final cluster stable

'put down' -ass-ansa-

' shave' -azz-alza-

'dump' (Vdf) -ass-atfa-

'plant' -ass-arta-

'burn' -ass-arra-

s-aert

s-aerv

s-aens

z-aelz ι ι

s-aetf ι

a-s-ans

a-z-alz I I

a-s-atf ι

a-s-art

a-s-arv

b. resyllabifying

'teach' -ass-3Tra- s-arar a-s-ararr

'send' -ass-ajla- s-ajal a-s-ajall

The importance of accent as a cue to structure (in T-ka dialect) is shown

by comparing the forms for 'teach' in (463.b) with those of 'make wet': PerfP

-aes-raer-, Imprt s-arar and VblN α-s-arar. Note in particular the T-ka

accentual difference between Imprt s-arar 'make wet' and Imprt s-arar

(/s-asrr/) 'teach', the latter showing Epenthetic-Vowel Accentuation (the

vowels of 'make wet' are not epenthetic). This minimal pair does not work for

most dialects, which do not shift accent to epenthetic V's in this position, and

so have s-arar in both senses.

For A-grm I recorded the VblN for 'make begin' as α-s-ant, PI

i-s-anti-tasn, where the stem-final V is preserved only in the plural. From these

limited data I infer that this dialect favors preservation of the stem-final i in the

VblN before the PI suffix, and word-finally unless deletion would create an

unacceptable final cluster. While T-ka-like resyllabification is seen in the

A-grm Imprt s-akan, I have also recorded a number of forms in this dialect that

retain an original i or u in the Imprt, viz., s-aerru 'burn!', s-seqqu 'cook!'.

This dialect often shows final u (instead of a) in the LoImpfP forms, e.g.

-s-arvu- corresponding to T-ka -s-άητα- 'is burning'.

The above data involve underived -vPQu- stems, α/ι subclass. I know of

no causatives of the few -νΡυ- verbs. Only -vji> 'do' has a complete stem

paradigm, and it geminates j to jj in derivatives. The two causatives of

apparent -νΡΡυ- stems, α/ι subclass, are shown in (464).

(464) Causatives of -νΡΡυ- Verbs, α/ι Subtype

gloss PerfP Imprt LoImpfP VblN

'cook' -ass-aqqa s-serjg -s-arjqa- a-s-aqq

'send' -aess-oka- s-ük -s-lku- a-s-uk