A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.11 Instrumental and related nominals 555

α-s-ajbas

a-s-akmas

a-s-akram

a-s-arway

a-s-arsam

'belt'

'cloth bag'

'livestock area'

'kneading stick'

'slipknot'

-vjbvs- 'tie belt'

-vkmvs- 'tie (in garment)'

-vkrvm- 'gather livestock'

-vrwvy- 'knead'

-vrsvm- 'tie knot'

c. α in final syllable, homophonous to attested causative VblN

a-s-ardal 'loan' = VblN 'give as credit'

[variant a-s-ardal]

d. like (c) but no attested homophonous VblN

a-s-anfas 'water in mortar' -vnfvs- 'moisten (grain)'

e. i in final syllable, homophonous to attested causative VblN

α-s-akkik 'high spot' = VblN 'lift'

Most of these instrumentals have schwa (581.a-b) rather than α (581.c-d)
in the final syllable, while the VblN alternates more freely between the two
variants. The instrumentals also usually have unsuffixed ablaut plurals. Thus
instrumental α-s-akmas has PI i-s-akmas, and instrumental a-s-arway
'kneading stick' has PI i-s-arway. By contrast, true VblN's have suffixal
plurals (§8.6.1.6).
In the Sg, stem-final ay is often treated as i, and presumably stem-final aw
would be treated as u (I have no instrumental examples of the latter), for
purposes of suffixal and clitic allomorphy. Thus α-s-arway 'kneading stick'
can be treated as α-s-arwi in e.g. α-s-arwi-nin 'my kneading stick', alongside
variant α-s-arway-in, showing the postvocalic allomorph O-nin and the
postconsonantal allomorph O-in.
The examples in (581) are masculine, but there are also some feminine
counterparts, again usually lexicalized (582). These feminine instrumentals are
more easily distinguished from simple VblN's, though feminine VblN's can be
formed (often with instantiating sense).

(582) Instrumental Nominals in the Form of Feminine Causative Verbal
Nouns

instrumental

t-a-s-aftaq-q

t-a-s-arras-t

t-a-s-akraf-t

t-a-s-arsam-t

t-a-s-astak-k

t-a-s-ajbas-t

gloss

'bedding'

'chisel'

'awl'

'trap string'

'padding'

'wrap' (garment)

related verb and gloss

-vftvr- 'lay out (bed)'

-vrrvs- 'slaughter'

perhaps -vkrvf- 'hobble'

-vrsvm- 'tie knot'

-vstvj- 'put padding'

-vjbvs- 'tie belt'