A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

464 8 Verbal derivation

c. -s-vm-ulvy- 'cut into pieces' (-ulvy- 'cut')

PerfP -aes-m-alasy-

Imprt s-amm-iby

LoImpfP -s-am-alay-

VblN a-s-smm-iby

d. -s-vm-vswu- 'give another drink to' (-vswu- 'drink')

PerfP -ses-m-aeswa-

Imprt s-3mm-3s3w

LoImpfP -s-am-aeswa-

VblN a-s-3mm-3s0ww

e. -s-vm-vdnvy- 'fill (waterskin) to the top' (-vdnvy- 'fill partially')

PerfP -zes-m-aednaey-

Imprt s-amm-sdnay-

LoImpfP -s-am-aednay-

VblN a-s-amm-adnay

Other, more lexicalized examples of -s- plus -m- (-n-) are in (475).

(475) Other Cases

a. -s-vn-olvs- 'narrate, (re-)tell (a story)' (-ulvs- 'repeat')

PerfP -ses-n-alaes-

Imprt s-ann-ibs

LoImpfP -s-an-aelas-

VblN a-s-snn-llss

b. -s-vm-vrwvs- 'offer credit to' (-rvwvs- 'be owed')

PerfP -ses-m-asrwass-

Imprt s-amm-arwas

LoImpfP -s-am-aerwas-

VblN a-s-3mm-3rw3s

Causative -s-vmvlkvw-, PerfP -ses-maslkasw- 'give (something) away',

based directly on -ammslkaew- 'be donated', is another possible example, but

the latter has no obvious synchronic semantic connection to -vlkvw- 'draw

(water, at well)'. Likewise with -s-vnvtfvs-, PerfP -2es-naetfass- 'fold', directly

based on -nutfvs- 'be folded', but the latter has only a questionable connection

to -vtfvs- '(udder) be full' (Vdfs).

There are many morphological double causatives with two successive -s-

prefixes. In the cases known to me, these function as simple causatives. The

pattern is common when the underived input verb is of the shape -uCvC-, or is

already transitive. Examples are (Imprt) s-sss-atkal 'cause (X) to take (Y)',

and (Imprt) s-ass-iwan 'cause to go up'; see §8.1.3.