A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

8.4 Reciprocal All

with the same verb and have different senses. For -kvykvy- 'shake (off)', we
get the forms in (488), cited in the VblN.

(488) a. α-m-kaykay '(cow) be full of milk' mediopassive
b. α-nm-akaykay 'shake each other' reciprocal

Note that the "mediopassive" in (488.a) is highly specialized semantically.
Rarely, -m- (-n-) with a light verb stem like -vPQvC- seems to have
reciprocal rather than mediopassive sense. An example is -n-vlkvm- (PerfP
-ann-alkasm-, Imprt n-slkaem) 'follow each other' (e.g. walk in single file).
Note that -vlkvm- 'follow' does not lend itself to mediopassive sense.
Sample reciprocal paradigms are in (489).

(489) Reciprocal Paradigms

a. perfective system

PerfP

Resit

PerfN

-vPQvC-

' stick to each other'

-n-vrmvm-

-ann-armaem-

-ann-irmasm-

-ann-armsem-

-vCvC-

'bite each other'

-nvm-vdvd-

-senm-asdasd-

-arilm-aedaed-

-aenm-aedaed-

b. short imperfective system

Shlmpf -aenn-aermaem-

Imprt n-aermasm

c. long imperfective system

LoImpfP -t-an-aermam-

LoImpfN -t-an-armim-

Prohib -t-aen-aermam-

-anm-adad-

nam-adad

-t-lnm-adid-

-t-anm-adid-

-t-anm-adid-

b. nominalizations

VblN a-n-armam

a-n-armam

a-nm-adad

a-nm-adad

In 'stick to each other' we see -n- in the long imperfectives, the Imprt, and
the VblN, but -nn- (due to C,-Gemination) in the Shlmpf and the perfective
stems.
The verb -vdvs- 'touch' shows idiosyncratic medial-C gemination in its
reciprocal (as in its TW-passive): PerfP -senm-aeddaes- 'touch each other'.
For -vC(C)u>- and similar V-final verb inputs, we get paradigms like those
in (490).