jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 407
(403) Short Imperfectives (T-ka) with u-Spreading and Medial V-Shortening
gloss 3MaSg 3MaPl
'be much' 1-bbuffa-t abbsffu-n
'get angry' 1-ddukra-t addakru-n
'scrub' i-ffiiffara-t affaffaru-n
'fear' i-mmüttasa-t ammattasu-n
In the I, Kidal-area, and R dialects, Medial V-Shortening and u-Spreading
are absent. For K(K-f and optionally K-d), I recorded 3MaPl affuffari-n. This
is phonologically straightforward, assuming basic form -fiiffvru-, Shlmpf
melody, and /i-se/ contracting to i (parallel to /u-ae/ contracting to u in T-ka).
However, for I and R dialects (and optionally for K-d), I recorded forms with e
instead of i, hence 3MaPl Shlmpf abbuffe-n and affuffare-n. These Shlmpf
forms have an odd resemblance to the corresponding perfectives, where stem-
final /a/ contracts with suffixal /as/ to give e, as in 3MaPl PerfP aebbuffe-n
'they were abundant' in these same dialects. It would seem that the e in the
Shlmpf forms in these dialects is due to an unusual analogy from perfective to
Shlmpf, and I will not attempt to derive these forms phonologically.
I now turn to stems where the full V occurs in a noninitial open syllable
in the basic representation. The stems in question have the shapes -CvCuCu-,
-CvCCuCu- just (one attested unaugmented verb, see (406) later in this
section, and -CVCVCCUCD-. These stems have melodies in the perfective,
and except for the rare -CvCCuCu- stem shape they have a lexically
determined high V (u or i) in the imperfectives and in the VblN. I consider the
high V to be part of the basic representation.
Verbs of the shapes -CvCuCu- and -CVCVCCUCD- with lexical u are
illustrated in (404).
(404) Augmented -CvCuCu- and -CvCvCCuCu- Stems
'roll' 'be diluted'
a. perfective system
PerfP -aeblaembalae-t -aedrarae-t
Resit -asblaembalae-t -aedrarae-t ι
PerfN -asblaembalae-t -aedrarae-t ι
b. short imperfective system
Shlmpf -ablambula-t -adrura-t
Imprt balambula-t darura-t
