A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.5 Participles (subject relatives) 505

e. Sg/Pl stem variation («V o» in PI only)

'smooth' salil- salll-aen salil-aet saslol-nen

[PI also salll-nen]

' short' kassal- kassal-aen kassal-aet kaessol-nen

'white' mallal- maell-aen maell-set maellol-nen

[PI also mallal-nen]

'small' madray- andarrae-n andame-t I maedroy-nen

'small' matkay- antakkae-n antakkae-t maetkoy-nen

[PI also antük-nen]

'long' sajrat- saejre-n saejre-t saejro-t-nen

[PI also sajra-t-nen]

[verb svjrvt-, participles based on -svjru- • f -t-, §7.3.2.2]

'many' ajjat- 0-aejje-n t-aejje-t aejjo-t-nen

[verb: PerfP -vjjvt-, imperfective -yat-, §7.3.2.2]

In some cases there are alternative accentuations for the participles,
reflecting the choice between PerfP and Resit stems as bases for adjectival
participles. Example: (Resit) andarr-aen and (PerfP) andarr-asn 'small
(MaSg)'. However, the PerfP/Reslt aspectual distinction is often neutralized in
adjectival participles that denote stable qualities, and the accentual variants are
often apparent only in interdialectal comparisons. The adjectival participles
also may diverge in form from the nonparticipial inflected verbs, as in the case
of 'be small', where the verb has PerfP madray and Resit madray. The few
stems (534.c) whose perfective (including Resit) stems have a full α before the
augment have dialectally variable singular participles, depending on whether
/as/ contracts to e or to as.
A number of these verbs have PI participles based on a different stem
form than the Sg participles, at least as variants. Where there is Sg/Pl variation,
the Sg usually has an melody with surface vocalic sequence «a a»
(several examples) or «a i» (e.g. 'smooth'). The PI in these pairs nearly always
has melody (the exception is 'stocky' with its initial-syllable u, though
other dialects have o). Moreover, these PI participles lengthen the second
stem vowel if it is not already full, the result being surface vocalic sequence
«ae α» (534.d) or «ae o» (534.e). Cf. ablaut formative χ-f (§3.4.4). In the
cases of 'black', 'yellow', 'red', and 'old', the lengthened V is also
characteristic of the inflected perfective (including Resit) stems, so the Sg
participles rather than the PI participle diverge from the associated inflected
Resit verb.
As suggested by the variants listed, and as catalogued more exhaustively in
the dictionary, there are dialectal shifts between the types with invariant stem
(534.a-b) and those with special vocalism in PI participles (534.d-e).