A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

178 4 Nominal and pronominal morphology

kokk kokkaw-aen 'vagina'

[PI also kok-tasn]

t-ett t-ettaw-en 'eye'

t-ezz t-ezzaw-en 'anus'

ά-χχ l-xxaw-asn 'milk'

üzaf üzfaw-asn 'nakedness'

t-ezz 1 1 t-ezzaw-en (A-grm) 'anus'

For the R speaker, some cases of ...iw- with extra i were recorded in a
feminine VblN formation that also shows Stem-Initial Syncope (151).

(151) Extra Stem-Final i Before PI ...w-en (Verbal Nouns)

singular plural gloss

t-a-m-sdin-t t-i-m-daniw-en 'grazing'

t-a-m-azil-t t-i-m-zaliw-en 'payment'

4.1.2.8 Gemination in singular or suffixal plural

Feminine nouns ending in a single consonant C plus FeSg -t in the singular
sometimes geminate the C in the plural. In these cases, it is possible that the
geminate is lexical, and is disguised in the Sg by a low-level phonological rule.
Examples in (152).

(152) Gemination in Feminine Suffixal Plural but not Singular

singular plural gloss

a. t-ae-boy-t t-l-boyy-en 'flower (of tree)'

t-se-duf-t t-1-duff-en I 'wool'

t-e-sasy-t t-l-saeyy-en 'winnowing van'

b. t-ee-haw-t t-l-haww-en 'chameleon'

t-se-jar-t t-l-jarr-en 'Maerua or Boscia tree'

t-s-mar-t t-!-marr-en 'beard'

c. t-s-lom-t t-l-lomm-en (T-ka) 'bran'

[PI also t-l-lamm-en A-grm]

Such plurals tend to be dialectally unstable, and may co-occur with
ungeminated variants (t-i-boy-en and t-i-duf-en are attested). A reasonable
analysis of the alternations shown in (152) is that the geminate is lexical, and