A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

674 13 Clausal subordination

denoting a generalized, not individual-specific, causality. For other uses of ed

and comments about segmentability and etymology, see §12.1.6.

(813) a. "i-jla

3MaSgS-go.PerfP

ed snna-nnet sebaAtaet

because mother-3SgPoss be.lost.PerfP-\3FeSgO

'He went away because his mother died.'

b. le-γ s a-\d aeqqaym-asY,

have.Reslt-lSgS that DemAComit sit.Shlmpf-lSgS,

ed le-γ ssssysI

because have.Reslt-lSgS work

Ί must stay, because I am busy (lit. "have work").' [K-d]

'Because of X' with NP complement can be expressed as PP's dar addslil

or fasl addalil 'in/on the reason (of ...), with a further "possessor" NP denoting

the cause.

(814) ajlae-n [dar addalil an maenna]

go.PerfP-3MaPlS [in reason Poss drought]

'They went away because of the drought.'

13.3 Jussive and subjunctive clauses (a-\d)

This section turns to a-\d clauses that are subordinated to a controlling verb.
Positive jussives (quoted imperatives) are expressed with a main clause
containing -νηηυ- 'say', with or without an explicit dative, and a subordinated
clause beginning in phonetic [ad] with a Shlmpf verb, or a LoImpfP verb
denoting recurrent events. The d of [od] is dropped if a clitic is present. The
[ad] can, at first sight, be taken either as Future particle ad, or as the sequence
of minimal demonstrative ά and cliticized Comitative -\d, i.e. a-\d. The latter
analysis is shown to be correct for T-ka and most other dialects by the form of
negative subordinated clauses (a-\d waer ..., etc., see below).

(815) a. snne-Y-\a-s [a-\d i-nzsr]

say.PerfP-lSgS-\Dat-3Sg [DemAComit 3MaSgS-sing.ShImpf]

Ί told him to sing.' (lit. "I said to him, that he sing") [R]

b. anne-YAa-s [aAd i-jal]

say.PerfP-lSgSADat-3Sg [DemAComit 3MaSgS-go.ShImpf]

Ί told him to go away.'