jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
304 7 Verbal morphology
These melodies are valid for the entire perfective system. The Resit has the
same melody. The PerfN changes a final-syllable α to e, but this e is arguably
still compatible with the L part of the perfective melody.
For most dialects other than T-ka (and A-grm), the initial short V created
by Stem-Initial V-Insertion varies between 9 and as in the perfective. The ae
variant occurs when the following syllable has a full high V (u or i), whether
this full high V is lexical or is part of Resit ablaut, otherwise we get the a
variant. For these dialects, we could assume a basic /a/ (after Melodic
Association) with a morphologically specialized Melodic Dissimilation rule in
perfectives with inserted initial short V (inserted a becomes ae before (C)Cu...,
where υ is a full high vowel). This would require no modification of the basic
perfective melody that I assume for T-ka. On the other hand, if we wish
to have the initial ae in the other dialects directly specified by the melody, the
latter would have to be three-part <L Η L> in the relevant cases.
Examples of the PerfP are in (309). (309.c-d) is the divine exhortation type
mentioned above.
(309) a. asmaerd-daer e-haed 1-ja
now Sg-night 3MaSgS-do.PerfP
'Now night has fallen.' [K]
b. aqqasl-aer e-baersaej
become.PerfP-lSgS Sg-patched.tent
i-bdaj-aen
3MaSgS-be.wet.Reslt-Partpl.MaSg
'I've become a wet patched tent (=I've gotten very old).' [K]
c. α-di-s i-wwaey-\add maessi-nasr
so 3MaSgS-take.PerfP-\Centrip master-lPlPoss
t-ae-lil-t
Fe-Sg-help-FeSg
'So, may God bring help!' [K]
d. 0-oyya yaslla t-i-jsttew-en
3MaSgS-leave.PerfP God Fe-Pl-pillar-FePl
'May God leave (alone) the pillars (of society)!" [K]
e. 0-aez-zael-\kaewasn maessi-naer
3MaSgS-Caus-pay-\2MaPl master- lPlPoss
'May God see that you-MaPl are (re-)paid!' [K-d]
