A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 179

FeSg suffix -t forces Degemination of the preceding geminate. Note that the
degeminated C is from the set {y w r m f}, i.e. sonorants and one fricative.
There are also some masculine nouns that show (at least dialectally) a
simple stem-final C in the Sg that is geminated in the PI. However, in these
cases there is also a stem-medial vocalic change, from high V to α, so the PI is
of typel-CaPP-asn (153).

(153) Gemination in Masculine Suffixal Plural (-CaPP-) but not Singular

singular plural gloss

3-fud (T-ka) i-fadd-aen 'knee'

[Sg also 9-fudd (T-md), ae-fudd (widespread)]

3-fus (A-grm) ~i-fass-asn 'hand'

[Sg also 3-fiiss, ae-fuss]

ά-γΐΐ Wall-aen 'right hand'

9-mud 1-madd-aen 'prayer'

[PI less often l-mad-asn]

3-zumI I 1-zamm-aen 'Ramadan'

These 1-CaPP-aen plurals are a subset of the fuller set described in
§4.1.2.9, below, where vocalic changes are reviewed. There is a templatic
look to these plurals.
Looking back at the feminine cases (152), the PI type t-l-CaPP-en in
(152.b) might now be seen in a different light. Since the Sg in those cases
already has the a, the analysis whereby Sg /-CaPP-t/ with FeSg suffix
simplifies to /-CaP-t/ is still viable, but it might also be possible to take
t-l-CaPP-en as the feminine equivalent of semi-templatic "ί-CaPP-aen in (153),
in which case the Sg type t-se-CaC-t exemplified by t-as-haw-t 'chameleon'
need not have an underlying geminate. In (152.c), I noted a feminine case
where a Sg/Pl vocalic change did occur (in the A-grm variant), giving further
credence to the connection between the feminines in (152.b-c) and the
masculines in (153). But note that the masculines may end in an obstruent d,
while the feminines all end in sonorants or fricatives.
An isolated stem-final alternation in a longer noun stem is given in (154).

(154) Bisyllabic Stem with Final Simple/Geminate Alternation

singular plural gloss

e-Y£erdes i-rardsss-an 'rib'

[much dialectal variation; A-grm PI accented i-rardass-an]

In (155), the singulars end in a geminate that corresponds to a plain C in

the plural. There is some dialectal variation.