A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 209

The noun zaerto 'ladle' (perhaps borrowed from Songhay) has a P11-zartα
attested once (T-md), alongside a more common suffixal PI zaerto-taen. The
form l-zsvta is an unsuffixed ablaut PI, and it has "grown" a vocalic prefix
absent from the Sg. Likewise Sg s-aento 'beginning', PI l-s-anta (T-md,
elsewhere PI s-aento-tasn).
The following sections (§4.1.2.16-19) exemplify these variants of PI
melody . I begin with bisyllabic Sg nouns (trisyllabic if the vocalic
prefix is included), since they illustrate the melody nicely. They are followed
by monosyllabic and then trisyllabic or longer stems. All of these patterns
involve non-final accent on the plural. In §4.1.2.18 below I discuss the ablaut
PI type with melody.

4.1.2.16 PI ablaut melody (bisyllabic stems)

I begin with cases where the Sg has a full V in the penult. The PI therefore has

a surface vocalic sequence «u α». In (186), various types of masculine and

feminine plurals involving C-final bisyllabic stems are displayed. The MaPl

forms are derived unproblematically from the Sg forms by changing the prefix

to PI i-, applying the <HL> melody to the stem proper, and applying χ-f

(lengthening a final short V). The feminine counterparts shown here are

formed in the same way (retaining Fe prefix t- before PI -i-).

The lexical accent on the Sg stem, if there is any, is preserved in the PI.

Some apparent FeSg/FePl accent shifts occur throughout; they are focused on

in (191), below, where a straightforward phonological interpretation is offered.

(186) Unsuffixed Plural Ablaut (C-Final Bisyllabic Stem, «u α» Sequence)

singular plural gloss

a. Sg vowels full-full, simple medial C, masculine

ae-dadis i-dudas 'small dune'

α-hulel i-hulal

ae-ldtum i-lutam

as-mcijor i-mujar

ae-masor i-müsar

ae-matuj i-mütqj

e-sever i-sürar

ae-solar i-sular

'young donkey'

'groin'

'large quadruped'

'forearm'

'work gear'

'bustard'

'stud goat'

b. feminine counterparts of (a)

t-se-hahis-t t-i-h\ihas

t-se-s-anan-t t-i-s-ύηαη

t-as-s-utef-t t-i-s-utaf

t-a-zuzem-t t-i-zuzam

'Cadaba shrub'

'oxpecker (bird)'

'(a) spit'

'charcoal'