A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.6 Verbal nouns 533

(563) Deverbal Abstractives with Initial aPP...

verb (PerfP) gloss abstractive gloss

a. four syllables, with default accent

-ammüttaesae-t 'be afraid' ammattasu 'fear'

b. three syllables, with default accent

-addofae-t 'be plump' addufu (K-d) 'plumpness'

-adkaed- 'describe' addakud 1 1 1 'description'

-ajjujra- 'be sterile' ajjajru 'sterility'

-akkulkae-t 'have lice' akkalku 'having lice'

-akkurdas-t 'be dirty' akkardu 'dirtiness'

-arrumsae-t 'crave' arramsu 'craving'

-attuhmae-t 'suspect' attahmu (R) 'suspicion'

-semmoras-t 'be forceful' ammuru 'forcefulness'

-ass-amda- 'complete' ass-amdu 'completion'

c. three syllables, with default accent and full α in final syllable

-annukkasl- 'be dirty' annikkal 'dirtiness'

three syllables, with penultimate accent

-abbaraed- 'be resolute' abbarad (K)

-abraer- 'be weak' (K) abbarrar (K)

-akkulaef- 'be adult' akkullaf

'resoluteness'

'weakness'

'age of

majority'

e. irregular (with apparent Passive prefix)

-ammukkaen- 'be possible' att-amakkin 'possibility'

-assawwas- 'be fretful' att-asawwis 'fretfulness'

f. irregular (masculine with Mediopassive prefix and final a)

-ann-ukmasm- 'be squeezed' n-akmama 'being

squeezed'

In some cases these abstractives cooccur (within or across dialects) with a
regular VblN. For 'fear' in (563.a), the A-grm dialect has a regular VblN
a-mattasu.
There are also a few unprefixed C-initial abstractives, with no prefix or
stem-initial gemination, that function as abstractives of stative verbs (564.a-b).
In such cases, the "abstractive" could be thought of as a functional equivalent
of VblN.