A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

524 5 Verbal derivation

8.6.1.5 Verbal nouns of augmented verbs (with -t-)

For the augmented verbs, which are very numerous, a suffixal augment -t-
occurs in most inflected forms. In VblN's and other nominalizations, the -t is
omitted. The VblN therefore ends in a full V. Two other ablaut formatives
seen with unaugmented verbs are inapplicable or moot for prosodic reasons
with augmented verbs: α-f is inapplicable since there is no a in the stem-final
syllable, and χ-f is moot since the V of the final stem syllable is already a full
V. However, there is one crucial difference between VblN's of unaugmented
and augmented verbs, namely the absence of χ-pen (stem-penultimate accent)
in the VblN's of augmented stems. These VblN's therefore have default
accent, on the antepenult.

The stem-final V appears as i or u depending on the lexical item. When the
stem has no other full V's, i is at least as common as u. However, in T-ka and
some other dialects, if there is also a medial full u (even if later shortened), the
stem-final V must be u (u-Spreading, §3.5.9). A-grm and some other eastern
dialects do not display harmony, and so have many more final i's than are
found in T-ka.
Stem-Initial Syncope applies as usual, deleting schwa in a stem-initial
open syllable, in the same way as for unaugmented verbs.
The generally productive VblN pattern retains the skeleton (including
short and full V's), with melody overlaid. However, Medial
V-Shortening does apply to underlying medial full V's when another full V
occurs in a following syllable, accounting for the medial a in VblN ά-zarmu
from -zurmu- 'act like a Zarma' (PerfP -azzurmas-t), and VblN a-faffaru from
-fuffvru- 'scrub' (PerfP -afftffaerae-t), cf. §3.4.9.3.
The VblN patterns considered so far are exemplified in (556).

(556) Verbal Nouns with Melody for Augmented Stems

gloss Imprt Sg VblN PI VblN

1. all non-stem-final V's are short

a. nonsyncopating, with final i

'scatter' waesas-t

'gallop' dserbae-t

ά-wasi i-wasi-taen

ά-darbi (etc.)

'be filed' z-sezzaewas-t a-zazzawi

b. nonsyncopating, with final u

'hide, lie low' bsekas-t ά-baku i-baku-taen

c. syncopating, with final i

'cover self bakambaka-t α-bkambaki i-bkambaki-taen

'(doors) close' nakabba-t ά-qkabbi (etc.)