A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 353

(356) PerfP and Resit Paradigms of α/ι Verb -vnsu- 'excuse'

PerfP Resit

a. stem-final V appears as α with no subject suffix:

1P1 n-ansa n-ansa

3MaSg 1-nsa i-nsd

3FeSg t-ansa t-ansd

b. contraction to e before suffixal /ae/ (lSg, 2Sg subjects)

lSg anse-v anse-r

2Sg anse-d t-anse-d

c. contraction to /as/ before suffixal /ae/ (2MaPl, 3MaPl subjects)

2MaPl t-ansae-m t-ansa-m

3MaPl ansae-n ansa-n

d. appears as shortened ae (PerfP) or full α (Resit) before C-initial

subject suffix

2FePl t-ansae-maet t-ansa-maet

3FePl ansas-naet ansa-naet

While lSg, 2Sg, 2MaPl, and 3MaPl have subject suffixes of shape /-aeC/,
lSg and 2Sg contract the /ae/ with stem-final /a/ to give e, while 2MaPl and
3MaPl contract the same segments to as (356.b-c). The a accent in (356.c)
shows that both the stem-final and suffix-initial V's are counted in Default
Accentuation, which applies before VV-Contraction, so we end up with fixed
penultimate accent. Other morphophonological interpretations of the
derivations are possible (§3.2.3.3). Before a C-initial suffix, the /a/ is audibly
shortened to ae by Presuffixal α-Shortening (§3.4.9.1) in the PerfP (356.d).
In the Resit, the effects of Presuffixal α-Shortening are absent, either
because the ablaut length formative χ-pcl prevents the shortening rule from
applying ("protecting" the underlying full V), or because χ-pc 1 is applied (for
light V-final verbs only) to the core stem plus the portion of a following
subject suffix up to and including the first suffixal C. The two ways to derive
Resit 2MaPl t-ansd-m (356.c) and 2FePl t-ansd-maet (356.d) are given in
(357).