A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

3.2 Local assimilations and syllabification rules 69

d. first syllable of multisyllabic stem

e. (sometimes) lSg subject suffix -aer- before directional clitics

like Centripetal -\add or -Yidd

For the /-asC(C)i-/ Shlmpf verbs, the process does not operate when the
hi is deleted word-finally, provided that the resulting stem-final (C)C does not
undergo ^syllabification. Examples are aeks 'eat!-Sg' and £ej 'do!-Sg'.
However, when the hi surfaces as a (before a C-initial subject suffix), or
combines with the initial /ae/ of a subject suffix to produce a, the conditions for
Short-V Harmony are fulfilled and the harmonic rule applies: (Future) od
aksa-naet 'they-Fe will eat', ad aksa-n 'they-Ma will eat', FePl Imprt
aksa-maet 'eat!-FePl\ Likewise sej 'do!-Sg', ad aja-naet 'they-Fe will do', ad
aja-n 'they-Ma will do'.
For those /-aeCCi-/ Shlmpf verbs that require resyllabification (§3.2.4) in
word-final position because the final C is a sonorant, the insertion of schwa
(Final-CC Schwa-Insertion) also feeds Short-V Harmony. Thus /aejli/ 'go!-Sg'
is realized, depending on dialect, as ajal or ajal. Leaving the accent aside, we
note that both outputs not only show an epenthetic medial schwa (between the
j and the sonorant 1), but also change the stem-initial /ae/ to a. The derivation
can be modeled as /aejli/ —»/aejal/ —> ajal.
When Final-CC Schwa-Insertion is blocked by the presence of a V-initial
suffix or clitic, as in 2MaPl Imprt äejl-aet, the absence of the epenthetic schwa
correlates with the failure of the initial /ae/ to shift to a. These data can be
explained by assuming at least the one-way harmonic process in (46), by
which /ae/ assimilates to the quality of a in a following syllable. (For some
second thoughts on this, see end of this section.)
When a full-V nominal Sg vocalic prefix a- or e- (as opposed to short-
vowel allomorphs ae - or a-) undergoes Prefix Reduction (§3.5.1), the prefix
appears as ae when the following syllable has a low or mid-height V {e ae α ο},
or when there is no following syllable Cas-xx 'milk'), and as a when the
following syllable has a high V {i a u}. It is reasonable to think that the
reduction rule itself converts α or e (note that e is often associated with α in
Tamashek) to ae (i.e. to the short counterpart of a), which is then subject to
Short-V Harmony if applicable. Examples in (48), where \ as usual, precedes
nouns whose vocalic prefix has been audibly reduced.

(48) unreduced reduced gloss

a. e-baegg "ae-baegg 'jackal'

e-daeber "ae-daeber 'dove'

a-drav "ae-drar 'rock, hill'

e-ben "as-ben 'tobacco pipe'

e-mm 'ae-mm 'mouth'