A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 231

t-ae-rari-t-t

t-3-hun-t

t-Ee-hoz-t

t-ae-fati-t-t

t-e-res-t

se-sagg

t-i-Yur 'dried clay'

t-i-hün 'stone'

[Sg also t-se-hon-t and other variants]

t-i-huz

t-i-futt (A-grm)

t-i-russ (A-grm)

[PI also t-i-Ytis (R, T-ka)]

i-sugg (A-grm)

[rare in Sg; PI also i-sujj]

'cloud of dust'

'failing'

'pit in ground'

'baggage'

minor types

t-e-gaey

t-ihi-t-t

t-a-hi-t-t

t-a-saefa

t-e-mse

t-a-dhi-t-t

'storage area'

'origin, homeland'

t-i-gayy (A-grm)

t-ihl (A-grm)

[t-ihi arguably t-i-hayy ; PI also t-lhi-t-en]

t-i-hlww 'front leg'

t-i-sfaww 'beaded necklace'

t-i-mass (A-grm) 'fire, hell'

[several dialectal variants of Sg and PI]

t-i-dahh (A-grm) 'folding' (VblN)

t-a-dat-t (Vdd) t-i-dud 'suckling' (VblN)

As in other unsuffixed ablaut plurals, feminine suffixes (-t, postvocalic
-t-t) are omitted in the PI. A V-final stem of two or more syllables normally
deletes the final V in the PI; for the exception ('beaded necklace') in (206.h),
see below. After this Plural Final-V Deletion, most of the stems in question
are monosyllabic (disregarding nominal prefixes), and these monosyllabic
stems show consistency in V-length from Sg to PI. However, the cases in
(206.C) have C-final bisyllabic stems of shape -CasCaP- or -CaeCeP-. The
corresponding plurals are of the type -CCaPP, showing Syncope (deleting the
first V), a special Plural Medial-V Shortening rule (shortening the second V),
an accent formative (χ-f). and in most but not all cases a final gemination
formative Γ-f (unless we opt for a templatic analysis). Syncope is also
observed in (206.d), where the surviving V is already short in the Sg, so there
is no need for audible V-Shortening. The combination of Syncope and Stem-
Final V-Deletion guarantees that all PI stems are monosyllabic.
An melody is applied to the PI stems. A short V (original, or due to
V-Shortening) therefore appears as a. If we accept the proposition that
Syncope applies to /a/ but not to /ae/ (§3.2.7.1), we should allow the melody to
apply before Syncope to insure that the latter does in fact apply in (206.c-d). If
the Sg has a full V, it becomes high {u i} in the PI. Specifically, if the Sg has i
we get i in the PI, see 'word' in (206.f); if the Sg has α or u we get u in the PI,
cf. several examples in (206.g); if the Sg has e there is lexical variation (for
Timbuktu-area dialects) between i and u in the PI, while A-grm has consistent
u, see 'biting' and 'throwing' in (206.f) and 'pit in ground' in (206.g).