A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

490 8 Verbal derivation

8.5.4 Indefinite participles

Indefinite participles, which directly follow the head noun with no intervening
demonstrative, or follow an indefinite demonstrative (see below) in the
absence of a real head noun, are much more straightforward in form than the
definite participles described in preceding sections. They have the same
prefixes and suffixes as definite participles. The difference is that the special
rules erasing ablaut χ and shifting the accent in definite participles do not
apply to indefinite participles. Therefore the verb stem preceding the
Participial suffix is exactly the same as the corresponding inflectable verb stem
in main clauses.
In the PerfP for ordinary verbs, the definite and indefinite participial
forms are the same: w-α l-jjass-asn 'he who entered' (definite), as-hdlas
l-jjaes-asn 'a man who entered' (indefinite). For adjectival verbs, on the other
hand, there are special indefinite participle forms (translatable as modifying
adjectives); see §8.5.7, below.
The most systematic difference between indefinite and definite participles
can be seen in the Resit and LoImpfP participles. The indefinite participles
follow the ablaut pattern of the regular inflected stem as seen in main clauses,
while (see §8.5.3, above) the definite participles erase χ-pcl, and have unusual
accentual patterns in FeSg and PI LoImpfP participles. For the Resit, compare
the forms in (509), e.g. 'he who has entered' versus 'an Ν who has entered'
(509.a). The inflected Resit stems are -ajjas- 'enter', -axlbabae-t (with
augment, underlying /-axibaba-t/ 'have gaping hole', and -sbddd- 'stand'.

(509) Definite versus Indefinite Resit Participles (N = any noun)

gloss def. ('he who has') indef. ('one who has')

a. 'enter' w-α i-jjass-aen Ν i-jjds-asn

b. 'have gaping hole' w-α 0-ffixbdbe-n Ν i-xlbabe-n

c. 'stand' w-α i-bdaed-aen Ν i-bdad-sen

For the LoImpfP, consider the examples in (510). The corresponding

inflected stems are -t-djjaes-, -t-lxbubu-t (underlying /-t-ixbubu- + -t/), and

-baddaed-.

(510) Definite versus Indefinite LoImpfP Participles (N = any noun)

gloss definite ('he who...s') indefinite ('one who...s')

a. 'enter' w-α i-t-sejjass-aen Ν i-t-ajjaes-aen

b. 'have gaping hole' w-α i-t-axbubu-n Ν i-t-ixbubu-n

c. 'stand' w-α i-bsddaed-aen Ν i-baddaed-aen