A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.1 Causative 465

While I know of no true causative-causative other than these purely

morphological double causatives, there are a number of more complex

combinations involving two Causative prefixes separated by -m- (variant -n-),

which can here be taken as Reciprocal (rather than Mediopassive). Some of

these are fairly common, but they tend to have specialized senses. I refer to

them as causative-reciprocal-causative, though in several cases there is a

distributive or iterative nuance.

(476) Causative-Reciprocal-Causative

a. -s-vm-vs-idvn- 'count (over and over)' (Imprtldan 'be counted')

PerfP -aes-m-aes-adasn- (A-grm -s-aemm-aes-edaen-)

Imprt s-amm-as-idan

LoImpfP -s-lm-s-idin-

VblN a-s-amm-as-ldan ι

b. -s-vm-vs-urvl- 'begin again' (-vqqvl- (VYI) 'return')

PerfP -aes-m-aes-avael-

Imprt s-amm-as-UYal

LoImpfP -s-lm-s-UYul-

VblN a-s-amm-as-uYal

c. -s-vm-vs-ijvr- 'compare (X and Y)' or 'make (X) bigger or longer

than (Y)' (-ujvr- 'surpass, be better than')

PerfP -aes-m-aes-ajaer-

Imprt s-amm-as-ijar

LoImpfP -s-lm-s-ijir-

VblN a-s-amm-as-ljar

d. -s-vn-vs-udvb- 'pour (liquid) back and forth' (Imprt üdab 'be

poured')

PerfP -aes-n-zes-adaeb-ι

Imprt s-ann-as-udab

LoImpfP -s-in-s-udub-

VblN a-s-ann-as-udab ι

e. -s-vm-vs-ihvr- 'vacillate, hesitate' (-uhvr- 'have in common')

PerfP -ass-m-aess-ahasr-

Imprt s-amm-ass-ihar

LoImpfP -s-lm-s-ihir-

VblN a-s-amm-as-ihar

The rare causative of passive is probably confined to cases where the
passive is somewhat specialized semantically (i.e. lexicalized). The only
textual example I have is 'cause to be arrested'. The input is -t-vrmvs- 'be