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Question 5 - Swallow the salt (20 marks)
Tadaksahak is a Songhay language spoken primarily in the Republic of Mali, a
landlocked country in Western Africa. There are approximately 32,000 speakers of
the Tadaksahak language. Given below are several Tadaksahak phrases and their
English translations:
aƔagon cidi
atezelmez hamu
atedini a
hamu anetubuz
jifa atetukuš
amanokal anešukuš cidi
aƔakaw hamu
itegzem
aƔasezegzem a
anešišu aryen
feji abnin aryen
idumbu feji
cidi atetegmi
amanokal abtuswud
cidi asetefred
amanokal asegmi i
I swallowed the salt.
He will have the meat swallowed (by
somebody).
He will take it.
The meat was not taken.
The corpse will be taken out.
The chief didn't have the salt taken out.
I took out the meat.
They were slaughtered.
I'm not having him slaughtered.
He didn't have the water drunk (by
anybody).
The sheep is drinking the water.
They slaughtered the sheep.
The salt will be looked for.
The chief is being watched.
The salt is not being gathered.
The chief had them looked for.
Note: š is pronounced like sh in shoe; ʒ – like s in casual; Ɣ – like a voiced h.
5.1. Translate the following phrases into English:
a. aryen anetišu
b. aƔasuswud feji
c. cidi atetelmez
d. asedini jifa
5.2. If you know that the stem1 of the verb “walk” is iʒuwenket, translate the
following phrases into Tadaksahak:
a. He is having the water taken.
b. I’m having them walked.
c. The chief did not drink the water.
d. The salt was not looked for.
e. He will have the salt gathered.
5.3. Summarize your findings about Tadaksahak, and explain your answers to 5.1 and
5.2. In your answer, make sure to describe the structure of Tadaksahak verbs: how
1
The stem is the part of the word which is common to all of its inflected forms (e.g.,
in English, the stem of the words walks and walking is walk).
1
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does each segment (affix) of a verb contribute to its meaning? Also, make sure to
describe the structure of Tadaksahak phrases.
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Answer blank
Swallow the salt (20)
5.1.a.
b.
c.
d.
5.2.a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
5.3
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Answers and marks
Swallow the salt (20)
5.1.a.
b.
c.
d.
5.2.a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
5.3
The water was not drunk
I had the sheep watched
The salt will be swallowed
He is not taking the corpse
abzubuz aryen
aƔabʒiʒuwenket i
amanokal anenin aryen
cidi anetegmi
atesefred cidi

Person/number + Tense/polarity + Voice

Person+number prefixes - 4/3 points for all 3.
o 1st p.sg. — aƔao 3rd p.sg. — ao 3rd p.pl. — i
Tense+polarity prefixes - 2 points for all 5.
o Positive:
 past –Ø
 present –b
 future -teo Negative:
 past –ne
 present -se
Voice prefixes
o active: -Ø
o passive –t
o causative (passive) — one of: š, z, s, ʒ. It must be the
same as the sibilant in the stem. If there is no sibilant
in the stem, s is used.




Pronouns are the same as the verb prefixes - 2/3 points
Verbs are suppletive based on voice (not necessarily using these
terms) - 4/3 points.
VSO
Nouns don’t change, no article
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