A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

190 4 Nominal and pronominal morphology

(166) u-Spreading in Plural Verbal Nouns

singular plural gloss

a-hruhsv

a-mürad i-mürud-aen (T-ka) 'crawling'

[Ρ alsol i-mürid-asn (A-grm)]

i-hrühur-aen 'migration'

α-s-udam i-südum-aen (T-ka) 'last drop'

[PI also i-südim-aen (A-grm)]

a-s-addaniram

a-s-skkalutaf

i-s-addarürum-asn 'making liquid run'

i-s-akkalüluf-sen (T-ka) 'stroking'

[PI also i-s-akkalülif-aen (A-grm)]

a-smumav

a-snünaj

i-smumuY-aen

i-snünuj-aen

'dragging self'

'walking softly'

This u-Spreading also occurs in some paradigmatic forms of inflectable
verb stems (§3.4.9).
For verbs whose inflectable stems show alternations of the type PerfP
-aCuC- and imperfective -üCaC- (§7.3.1.10), the causative VblN may take the
form α-s-uCaC (Sg), but i-s-lCuC-asn (PI) in Timbuktu-area dialects.
However, informants showed some hesitation about the PI vocalism (variants
of the type i-s-üCuC-sen were also given).

(167) Plural Verbal Noun with i...u Sequence

4.1.2.13 MaPl -an due to clear VV-Contraction

For nouns there is variation, depending on the stem, between MaPl suffixal
allomorphs -aen and -an. The feminine counterparts have uniform -en.
Since -aen is the most basic MaPl suffix (§4.1.2.2), I interpret -an as a
phonological modification of -aen. This approach bears fruit, but it turns out
that there are two quite different ways to derive -an, each appropriate to a
different set of nouns

(168) Derivation of -an from -aen

a. /...Cu-aen/ contracts to ...C-αη (see VV-Contraction (39.a)).

b. -aen plus ablaut component χ-f (i.e. vowel length) [§4.1.2.14,

below]

singular plural gloss

α-s-udab i-s-ldub-asn (T-ka) 'making drip'

[PI also i-s-üdib-aen (A-grm)]