A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

612 10 Clitics

dative-object, can occur in the same cluster. However, clusters with two

datives are largely limited to such combinations as '[give X to Y] for Z', with

a recipient dative (Y) and a benefactive dative (Z). Clusters with two object

clitics are theoretically possible in causatives of transitives ('cause X to see Y\

§9.1.7), but informants did not like any double-clitic sentences I proposed, and

I could not get reliable data about relative ordering of two adjacent object

clitics.

Most of the data can be accounted for by assuming the maximal schema in

(684).

(684) Ordering of Object and Dative Clitics

a. if 1st person present

[host] 1st person non-1st person

b. if no 1st person

[host] object-1 dative object-2

One generalization is the first person first tendency: lSg or 1P1 precedes

a non-1st person clitic regardless of function. Note that lSg and 1P1 are the

pronominals that make no distinction in form between object and dative clitics.

This generalization clearly works in simple combinations with one object and

one dative clitic (685).

(685) a. i-wast-\a-hi-\tt

3MaSgS-kill.PerfP-\Dat-lSg-\3MaSgO

'He hit it for me.'

b. i-wa2t-\a-hi-\ha-s

3MaSgS-hit.PerfP-\0-lSg-\Dat-3Sg

'He hit me for him/her.'

The sense is deciphered by noting which case (object or dative) the non-1st
person clitic is in, then inferring the grammatical function of the ambiguous 1st
person clitic. In (685.a), the final -\tt is a 3Sg object form, so the ambiguous
lSg Λα-hi- is interpreted as a dative. In (685.b), the final -\ha-s is a 3Sg
dative, so the ambiguous lSg Λα-hi- is interpreted as an object pronominal. In
both types, informants normally reject suggested alternatives with the lSg
clitic following the non-lst person clitic. Thus #i-waet-\t-\ha-hi for (685.a) and
#i-wast-\a-s-\ha-hi for (685.b) were usually expressly rejected, though very
rarely such a combination did occur in paradigmatic elicitation.
However, in some combinations it is possible for a 1st person dative clitic
to follow a 3rd person object clitic. Consider (686), attested in T-md and K-d.