A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

180 4 Nominal and pronominal morphology

(155) Gemination in Singular but not Suffixal Plural

singular plural gloss

a. e-daeww i-daew-an 'gerbil'

[Sg also e-daew]

e-fseff i-faef-an 'teat'

[Sg also e-faef, PI also i· -faeff-αη]

e-hastt i-haet-an 'Songhay man'

e-jaerr i-jaer-an 'frog'

b. e-raess i-vaes-an 'bone'

e-zaebbι I i-zaeb-an 'large earring'

c. e-vaeff i-raefaw-aen 'head'

[Sg also e-vaef]

e-mm 1-maw-asn 'mouth'

[PI alsol-mmaw-aen]

isakk Iskaw-asn 'horn'

d. a-sibb 1-sib-aen 'wild fonio'

(155.a-b), which differ only in the accent of the Sg, show MaPl surface
suffix allomorph -an, which (because the medial ae in the PI is not compatible
with PI ablaut) should be due to VV-Contraction (39) (§4.1.2.13-14). The
plurals are therefore, disregarding accents, underlying /i-CaeCV-aen/ with some
vowel V. In the case of 'Songhay man' (155.a), note the feminine counterpart
t-e-hati-t-t 'Songhay woman', PI t-i-hata-t-en. For 'large earring' (155.b)
compare t-a-z«ebo-t-t 'ring (on finger)'. Assuming VV-Contraction also
explains the surface penultimate (underlying antepenultimate) accent in the
plurals in (152.b). However, the Sg/Pl patterns in (155.a-b) are not productive,
and there is considerable dialectal variation.
In (155.c) we have a somewhat similar alternation, with a final geminate in
the Sg, and an extension aw- after ungeminated C in the PI (for this extension
see §4.1.2.7, above). (155.d) is an isolated case; for many speakers only the PI
is in use.
For another stem not shown in (155), 'tail or mane hair', I recorded the Sg
as ae-saw or (more often) ae-saww, Pll-sagg-aen orl-saww-aen.
I also omit from (155) the masculine type α-hajjar 'acacia pod', PI
"i-hajr-an, and the two feminine types seen in t-a-fakka 'body', PI t-1-fökw-en,
and t-a-salluf-t 'tick', PI t-i-salf-en. These mixed ablaut-suffixal plurals
appear to have a templatic PI shape -CaCC-. This template entails
simplification (degemination) of the medial geminate, and in cases like 'body'
it seems to force insertion of a nonlexical w to fill the last C position. See
§4.1.2.14 for fuller lists and discussion.