A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

518 8 Verbal derivation

(547) Alternative Verbal Noun Types for -vCvC- Verbs

gloss Imprt Sg VblN PI VblN

a. t-ae-CaCa, t-e-CasCe, t-a-CasCa

'run, flee' abad t-se-bada (T) t-i-badiw-en (T)

t-e-baede (A-grm) t-l-bad (A-grm)

'mount' anay t-a-nseya t-i-nayiw-en

[A-grm VblN t-ee-naya]

c. eePPoC

'throw' ajar aejjor sejjor-aen

'chase' asaj aessoj —

d. t-a-m-aCiC-t

'beg' adal- t-a-m-adil-t t-i-m-dal

For the various subtypes of -u(C)CvC- verbs, the productive patterns are

those in (548).

(548) Verbal Noun Schemata for -u(C)CvC- Stems

subtype PerfP Sg VblN PI VblN

a. -uwvC- -aewwasC- aggaC aggaC-a;n

[gg for/ww/, §3.1.1.7]

b. -uPvC- (P * w) -OPJEC- iPPuC IPPuC-aen

c. -uCCvC- -oCCasC- ICCaC ICCaC-aen

d. -uCvC- (with u) -uCaC- ICaC ICaC-asn
Among typical -uCaC- verbs, it is necessary to distinguish those with
medial w (548.a) from those with any other medial C (548.b). These two
subtypes also differ in the perfective, as shown. In the VblN, in (548.a) we not
only get gg for expected ww, we also get melody (sequence «α α»),
contrasting with melody (sequence «i u») in (548.b).
The -uCCaC- verbs that already have a medial CC cluster (548.c) have a
VblN ICCaC with medial schwa. A similar VblN pattern ICaC (548.d) applies
only to the single -uCaC- verb (with u) 'go far'. Representative examples of
these patterns are given in (549), omitting the perfectives.