A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

576 9 Verb phrases and other predications

here)'. -\ad(d) here is the Centripetal clitic. This transitive verb, along with the

use of preposition ror 'chez, at the place of in composite 'from X to Y'

adverbial expressions (§6.7), makes an ablative preposition unnecessary, and

Tamashek has none.

-vwvr- 'be on' takes a direct object, rather than a PP, to specify the object

or surface on which the subject rests. In the (positive) stative sense it occurs in

the Resit form -awdr-. An example with full noun as object: i-war t-s-hun-t

'he is on the stone'. An example with object clitic is i-wdr-\t 'he is on it-Ma'.

The passive sounded dubious to informants, but I was able to elicit a reciprocal

-nvm-vwvr-, 3MaPl PerfP: aenm-aewaer-aen 'they were on each other'.

-vhi> 'be in' takes an object NP denoting the object, region, or space in

which the subject is located. Example: n-aha e-haen 'we are in the house'. The

verb can also be used in extended senses of the type 'be produced (caused) by'.

Example: i-h-\e a-s-assuhu η Vrazzej 'strengthening of the livestock is in

(=is brought about by) it (=a pasture grass sp.)'. In positive main clauses it is

always in the Resit form, -vhu- is a defective verb with no imperfective stems

(§7.3.2.12). It occurs in many idiomatic phrases, for example with a nominal

denoting a personality trait or other characteristic as subject, and a human NP

as object, e.g. t-ah-\e "t-ae-haeke 'he is generous' (lit. "giving is in him").

Another defective transitive verb is -νΐυ- 'have', the ordinary verb of

possession. It too appears (in positive sentences) in the Resit form -aid-. See

§7.3.2.14. One can extract the object to give sentences like e-haen miAtH-las-n

'the house [topic], who has it?' (i.e. 'to whom does the house belong?'). For an

alternative construction 'X be mine' etc. see §9.4.

Still another defective transitive verb is -νΐΐυ-, which combines with a

referentially empty 3MaSg object clitic to form an existential sense 'exist,

there is/are'. See §9.3, below, and §7.3.2.11 for the irregular morphology and

the dialectally variable omission or reinterpretation of the 3MaSg clitic.

The sense 'get lost' is expressed as (PerfP) 0-aeba-, with invariant 3MaSg

subject form (here 0- before a) plus an object NP or clitic denoting the person

or object lost. Example: 0-aeba-\taet 'she got lost', also a common polite

expression for 'she died'. The 3MaSg subject is audible as i- in LoImpfP

i-t-iba-\taen 'they are (often) lost'. See §7.3.2.16 for more forms of this

defective verb.

9.1.5 Intransitives with dative complement

The following verbs take a dative rather than accusative complement, and are

therefore technically intransitive: -vslu- 'hear, listen to', (PerfP) -allil- 'help'

(as simple transitive this verb means 'follow'), -vrrvs- 'slaughter, cut the

throat of (animal)', -vlkvm- 'follow', and -vmravv- 'look (search) for'.