A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.2 Passive 467

translate English passives (Ί got bitten'). For many transitive verbs, no
prefixal passive could be elicited.
For 'give' (§9.1.6), the passive always has the theme (i.e. the object given)
as subject: 0 -setw-a2kfa 'it was given'. I tried to elicit passive examples with
the recipient as subject but they were rejected.
The Passive allomorphs -t- (including -tt- due to C, -Gemination) and
-tvw- (syncopated -tw-) overlap, but in practice the choice between them is
usually predictable. Admittedly, in elicitation, speakers generally allowed
either form across a wide range of verbs. In normal speech, however, the -t-
form (including -tt- due to C,-Gemination) is usual with -vCCvC- stems, and
for T-ka with -vCvC-, while -tvw- is usual with heavier stems.
I will refer to the two as T-passive and TW-passive, respectively. The
-tvw- variant may be compared structurally with the rare w-extension of
Causative prefix -s-, i.e. -svw-, in a very small number of causative verbs
(§8.1.1).
Examples of the T-passive are in (478).

(478) T-Passives

-vPQvC- -vCvC-

'be taken' 'be hit'

-vrmvs- -vwvt-

a. perfective system

PerfP -att-armaes- -att-awaet-

Reslt -att-lrmaes- -att-iwaet-

PerfN -att-armajs- -att-awast-

b. short imperfective system

Shlmpf -£ett-aerm£es- -sett-aewast-

Imprt t-aermses t-eewaet

c. long imperfective system (two variant types)

LoImpfP

LoImpfN

Prohib

d. nominalizations

VblN

-t-ermas-

-t-at-aermas-

-t-ermas-

-t-at-armis-

-t-ermas-

-t-£et-aermas-

a-t-armas

a-t-armas

-t-ewat-

-t-at-aewat-

-t-ewat-

-t-at-awit-

-t-ewat-

-t-£et-aewat-

a-t-awat

a-t-awat