A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

582 9 Verb phrases and other predications

b. [α-sael i-daer]

[Sg-day Prox-Anaph]

'Today is a holy day.' [K]

ae-mud

Sg-prayer

9.3 Locational and existential predications

Existential predications are expressed with the verb -νΐΐυ-, normally occurring

as Resit -slid- 'there is/are' (or 'be present') in the positive, and as PerfN

-alia- after Negative wser. The existent is expressed as the subject. This verb

normally takes a referentially empty 3MaSg object clitic (allomorphs -\tt, At,

-e), though the clitic is omitted in some combinations, the details varying

dialectally. See §7.3.2.11 for more on the forms.

The 3MaSgO clitic is usually omitted with lst-2nd person subject: slle-Y
Ί am (present)', t-alle-d 'you-Sg are present'. I have, however, recorded
t-3lla-m-\t 'you-MaPl are present' with the 3MaSgO ending (-t).
The synonymous verb -vmvl- 'exist', which also takes a dummy 3MaSgO
clitic, has a full stem-paradigm (PerfP -amsel- or -msel-, Imprt amal, LoImprfP
-ammdl- or -t-ammdl-), and Infin e-mel. An example is Imprt SmalAt 'be!'.
-νΐΐυ- also occurs in a specialized adverbial construction translatable 'on
the near/far side of X'. Here we get a 3MaSg subject, a directional clitic
(Centripetal or Centrifugal), and either PerfP -alia- or Resit -alia- (the marked
accent of the latter would be overridden by that of the clitic). This is followed
by the spatial reference point X, which takes dative form (625). In (625.c), it
appears that i-lla-\hin is treated as a noun (preceded by Poss '$n).

(624) a. t-sllAe

3FeSgS-exist.Reslt-\3MaSgO

'There is a she-dog.'

Vedi-t-t

FeSg-dog-Fe-FeSg

b. alld-nAt

exist.Reslt-3MaPlS-\3MaSgO

'There are (some) male dogs.'

^a-yad-an

Pl-dog-MaPl

(625) a. i-lldAd

3MaSgS-exist.Reslt-\Centrip

[y fae-mm η "ae-hasn]]

[Dat [Sg-mouth Poss Sg-house]]

'just this side of the door (house entrance)'

b. d-vrsm i-llAe

Sg-town 3MaSgS-exist-\3MaSgO