A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

596 10 Clitics

(651) Centripetal (Surface Allomorphs, T-ka)

form preverbal position postverbal position

Aadd — between C's, or phrase-final after C

-\ad between C's —

-\dd between V's after α (before V or pause)

-\d C_V or V_C after α (before C)

Ahadd — after high V ju i} phrase-finally or

before V

Ahad — after high V (u i} before C

[for dialectal -\dad etc. see (656), below]

/dd/ is degeminated to d before C, especially in preverbal position After

factoring this out we have just three allomorphs as shown in (652).

(652) Centripetal Allomorphs (Revised)

form preverbal position postverbal position

Aadd C_C after C

-\dd V_ or _V after α (which shortens to as)

-\hsdd — after {ui}

The variant with h is used after verb stems ending in a high V, an
uncommon combination. This seems to be an h-Insertion process rather than
an underlying /h/ that is lost everywhere else; in comparison, the initial h of
dative clitics has a broader distribution (e.g. after Negative waer).

(653) h-Insertion

Insert h before Centrip -\add after {u i} of the verb; insert h

before Centrif -\in after Neg waer or any vowel (except after lSg

-Nhi-)

The h is not inserted after lSg object or dative clitic -(h)a-hi, so we get
-(h)a-hi-\dd, from underlying /-a-hi-\add/. There are no other clitics, and no
preverbal particles, ending in u or i in T-ka. (For dialectal 3MaSgO allomorph
-\tti-, see below).
The dropping of the initial short V after another V occurs in many suffixal
combinations (VV-Contraction). When the schwa of -\add is contracted, the
accent appears on the surviving V. Future ad takes the form a- before clitics
and does not reduce further before the clitic (a-\dd...). However, stem-final α
of a perfective inflected verb is shortened to ae before the clitic: /0-osa-\6dd/
appears as osae-\dd 'he came' (Stem-Final V-Shortening). Cf. (115).