10 I Introductiontranscriptions and the tapes back into the field and prepared corrected versions
of the transcriptions.
An outline of the grammar, focusing on the T-ka dialect, was developed
into a more comprehensive draft with a native speaker present in Bamako in
summer 2001. Modifications and additions were made thereafter based on
closer analysis of texts, and follow-up elicitation in summer 2002. In that trip I
also went over the Timbuktu-biased dictionary draft with a native of Ansongo-
Gourma for several weeks. In summer 2003,1 went through the by now rather
large dictionary draft with a native of Kidal (Kal Unan tribe) then in Gao. Of
course some grammatical material was also gathered from the Ansongo-
Gourma and Kal Unan speakers. I was able to work for about a week with a
speaker from the Gourma Rharous area, and few a few days each with
speakers from Kidal (Ifoghas), Immenas, and Tessalitt. In 2003, Mahmoud Ag
Oyett and I organized a three-day workshop for Tamashek applied linguists
and teachers in Gao, and I was able to glean some interesting dialectal details
from the participants.
The most urgent remaining task for the analysis of Tamashek is a fuller
study of phrase- and clause-level prosody based on recorded texts.
1.7 Acknowledgements
My overall work in Mali from 1986 to 2002 has been supported at different
times by the Fulbright Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the
National Endowment for the Humanities, and the University of Michigan. The
Tamashek project was jointly funded by NSF BCS-9816324 and NEH PA-
2337 from 1999 to 2002. A Fulbright research grant to Mali and two other
countries from July 2000 to March 2001 with a focus on Songhay languages
also allowed me to gather and process additional Tamashek material. I spent
ten weeks at the Linguistics Department of the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig in April-June 2001, working on
Tamashek as well as Songhay. I am very grateful to all of these institutions.
I thank Bernard Comrie for a close reading of the manuscript and for
suggesting many editorial and substantive improvements. Maarten Kossmann
also made a number of useful comments on an early version. The analysis of
ablaut was presented in talks and classes at Michigan and in talks at INALCO
in Paris (Berber linguistics class of Salem Chaker) and at a CALL conference
in Leiden.
In Mali, in addition to my DNAFLA and IPN collaborators mentioned
above, I wish to thank CNRST (particularly Boubacar Guindo), the Centre
Ahmed Baba in Timbuktu, my hosts in various cities (Abba Bomoye Maiga in
Timbuktu, Abdoulsalam Maiga in Hombori, Ibrahime Soumare in Gao,
Hamidou Baillo Samassekou in Mopti and Douentza), and the many
necessarily anonymous informants who provided information or who
participated in the recordings.