A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

554 8 Verbal derivation

ram. Note that the s of -maes- and the s of -sasdis form a surface geminate. In
(580.b) we find a morphologically irregular counterpart based on the numeral
akkoz 'four'. One might have expected #a-mas-akkoz or the like, but the
actual form α-m-iekkaezo has a geminate kk in roughly the same position as
the geminate ss in (580.a). The shift of ο to stem-final position is vaguely
reminiscent of u-Spreading (§3.4.9.3). For numerals see §5.1.2.1.

8.11 Instrumental (and related) nominals with -s- or -s-vg- prefix

There is a fairly productive instrumental nominal form with -s- prefix,
identical to the -s- prefix on causative verbs (§8.1.1). Like the Causative
prefix, the Instrumental prefix assimilates to any sibilant in the following stem,
reflecting sibilant harmony (§8.1.2). Compare also the Instrumental
preposition as or just s (with pronominal saer-). The nominals vary in sense
from denoting true instruments to locationals and products of action. For a rare
variant type s-agg- with -g- after the -s- see the final paragraph of this section.
If a-sasyar 'key' is synchronically connectable to the verb -uru- (PerfP
-ora-) 'open', we have a y-extension, with an extra y between the prefixal C
and the stem proper. One might take the y as an extension of either the prefix
(a-saey-ar) or of the stem (a-s-asyar). A similarly rare and frozen y-extension
for Mediopassive prefix -m-/-n- was noted in §8.3 (-nvyufa- 'be compared').
One type of instrumental is identical in form to a causative VblN.
Perhaps this is best considered a semantic extension of a causative VblN.
However, some examples are lexicalized and not all have a corresponding
causative verb in the dialects studied. A common logical type is 'instrument of
VERB-ing', e.g. 'broom' for verb 'sweep'. The sense can also be 'product of
VERB-ing', as in 'handle' from 'join (handle to implement)', or 'place for
VERB-ing', e.g. 'storage area' for verb 'store'.

(581) Instrumental Nominals with Melody in the Form of Masculine
Causative Verbal Nouns

instrumental gloss related verb/VblN and gloss

a. a in final syllable, homophonous to attested causative VblN

α-s-adbj 'ornaments' = VblN 'decorating'

α-s-afrad 'broom' = VblN 'cause to sweep'

α-s-arjaj 'handle' = VblN 'join (handle)'

α-s-aslay 'curdled milk' = VblN 'cause to curdle'

α-s-atwar 'storage area' = VblN 'store'

b. like (a) but no attested homophonous VblN

α-s-agras 'tobacco cover' [none]

α-s-avnas 'veil' -vrnvs- 'put on veil'