A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

4.1 Noun morphology 235

i-z-ajraz (T)

t-i-nfulal

'delights'

'marabout's blessing'

In the case of 'ewe', the Sg and PI share a stem-initial h, so this could be
an intermediate case. In Niger, the Sg "tele" is cognate to t-e-haele and there is
a distinct suppletive plural "asyfsd" (LTF2 179).
Terms for 'boy' and 'girl' (singular), and for 'boys', 'girls', or 'children'
are dialectally variable. For Sg 'boy' (or 'child') we can get ά-lyad, ara (also
'son'), ά-skiw (especially A-grm), or e-saekkaetew (Goundam only). Plurals
for 'boys' (or 'children') are the purely suppletive alaevora (Timbuktu, no
reduction of prefix after preposition), which has no plural morphological
features, and regular affixal plurals related to the singulars: I-lyad-aen,
ara-taen, l-skiw-aen, i-saekkaetew-aen. In some Timbuktu-area dialects,
i-saskkaetew-sen has no Sg counterpart and functions as a suppletive plural for
d-lyad.

Terms for 'girl(s)' are the morphological feminines of the unmarked
masculine forms. Singulars are t-a-lyat-t, t-ara-t-t, or t-e-saekkastew-t. Among
the plurals, the most interesting is suppletive t-i-lYÖYd-t-t. It is obviously
cognate to the corresponding masculine alaeYOYd in the same dialects.
t-i-lroYa-t-t is anomalous in that it begins with FePl t-i-, but does not end in
the usual FePl suffix (-t)-en.
Agreement for all the 'boys' forms including alaeYOYd is masculine
plural, and for all the 'girls' forms is feminine plural.

4.1.1.26 Phonologically irregular plurals

These plurals begin with segmental material carried over from the Sg, but have
additional segmental material in the PI (210).

(210) Phonologically Irregular Plurals

singular plural gloss

a. kin and relationship terms

ma

fl

massi

matte-

tsey-

msessaw-

' mother'

'father'

'owner (of)'

b. Sg £e-Ca,

x-ga

Pll-Catt-aen

1-gatt-aen (A-grm)

[T-ka: Sg ae-ja, Pll-jajj-aen]

l-latt-asn

[PI also suffixaH-la-taen]

'waterbag at well'

ae-la 'leaf