Give-and-take of Tamashek ablaut
Jeffrey Heath, University of Michigan
Abstract
The Kal Ansar dialect of Tamashek (southern Berber) is particularly instructive for the
analysis of ablaut. Its stem-level ablaut patterns can be decomposed into atomic ablaut
formatives, in contrast to the frustratingly muddled picture that emerges from e.g. Arabic
broken plurals. Second, certain ablaut formatives are manipulable. Two ablaut-heavy
inflectional verb stems traditionally called "intensive" are characterized by both a length
formative χ̄-pc1 and an accent formative χ́
-pc1. Both normally target the first
postconsonantal vowel (pc1) of the stem. However, in definite (but not indefinite) relative
clauses, vowels lengthened by χ̄-pc1 are re-shortened, while lexical long vowels are
unaffected. In the same syntactic context, the accent from χ́
-pc1 either remains in place,
shifts rightward, or is deleted, depending on the prosodic shape of the verb (stem plus
pronominal-subject affix). Conclusions: the existence of atomic ablaut formatives can be
proven, and their phonological status as nonlexical formatives remains accessible to, and
can be manipulated by, speakers even under rather subtle syntactic conditions.
1. Templates versus addition of ablaut formatives
We have two basic ways to analyse ablaut relationship between two stem-shapes. One is
templatic: input stems of various shapes are coerced into a rigid output shape like
Ce:CiC, which disregards input vowel qualities and requires input stems to provide
exactly three consonants (by suppressing a consonant in a quadriconsonantal stem, and
by either doubling an input consonant or adding a nonlexical consonant in a
biconsonantal stem). The other is additive: one or more local ablaut formatives (an
infixed consonant, a vocalic melody, an accent) are grafted onto the input stem, which
preserves some of its lexical features including aspects of its prosodic shape.
Consider the pairings of Tamashek verb-stem shapes with verbal noun ablaut
patterns in (1). The dialect is that of a the Kal Ansar of the Timbuktu area. “v” represents
an unspecified short vowel, “ʋ” an unspecified long vowel, C any consonant, PP a
geminate consonant cluster, and PQ a nongeminate consonant cluster. The stems in (1)
are all prosodically light, in that they have at most two consonantal positions separated
by vowels.
(1)
Verbal nouns of light verbs
stem-shape
verb
VblN
gloss
-vPQvC-vCvC-vPPvC-ʋPvC-vPQʋ-
-vsrvd-vsvr-vddvh-ʋbvr-vjlʋ-
ɑ-sǽ
rɑd
‘stretch’
é
-ser
‘unravel’
ú
dəh
‘pound’
í
bbur
‘take handful’
t-ɑ-jə́
llɑw-t
‘go away’
Tamashek verbal morphology is based on stem-shapes that can be captured by formulae
consisting of consonants, sometimes specified for identity or non-identity, plus short and
long vowels, as indicated in the left-hand column of (1). In each case, the verbal noun
shown represents the productive ablaut pattern that corresponds to the stem-shape in
question. Even factoring the affixes out,1 the five verbal noun patterns in (1), namely
-Cǽ
CɑC-, -Cé
C-, ú
CəC, í
PPuC (for -ʋPvC- stems), and -CəPPɑw-, have little in
common with each another, either in syllabic/moraic structure or in vocalic melody. It
would be foolish to try to unify them into a single ablaut template. The verbal noun
patterns also diverge considerably from the associated stem-shapes, so that no unified
additive model will work. Each verb-stem pattern is simply associated with a verbal
noun template, such as ɑ-Cǽ
CɑC or é
-CeC. These templates are fleshed out with
For ‘go away’, the t-…-t circumfix is feminine (the suffixal -t happens to impose
word-penultimate accent). The verbal nouns for ‘stretch’, ‘unravel’, and ‘go away’ have a
Singular prefix ɑ- or e- that is absent in the two other verbal nouns, which are already
vowel-initial.
1
consonants extracted from the verb, with some final adjustments to fill empty C positions
(doubling an input consonant, adding nonlexical semivowels).
Consider now the corresponding data for bulkier stems, which are assigned to
classes based cleanly on the number of nonadjacent consonantal positions separated by
vowels. The stem-shapes in (2) have three or more nonadjacent consonantal positions,
and are therefore all prosodically heavy stems.
(2)
Verbal nouns of heavy stems
stem-type
example
-CvCvC-
-bvjvr-
-CʋCvC-CvCCvC-CuCCvC-CvCCvCCvC-CvCvCCvC-
VblN
ɑ-bə́
jər
ɑ-bə́
jɑr
-budvrɑ-bú
dər
ɑ-bú
dɑr
-jvynvnɑ-jə́
ynən
ɑ-jə́
ynɑn
-huššvl- ɑ-hú
ššəl
ɑ-hú
ššɑl
-jvrtvqqvl- ɑ-jərtə́
qqəl
ɑ-jərtə́
qqɑl
-bvlvdwvy- ɑ-blə́
dwəy
ɑ-blə́
dwɑy
gloss
‘reject child’
‘be rude’
‘beg’
‘be necessary’
‘stumble’
‘fall to side’
The verbal nouns of heavy stems in (2) show a consistent pattern that calls for a single,
integrated ablaut model. Leaving 'fall to side' apart for a moment, we observe the
following: 1) singular prefix ɑ-, 2) stem-wide high-vowel melody in the stem proper,
allowing only short vowel ə or long vowel u (for a few other stems, i); 3) penultimate
accent; and 4) optional replacement of the final ə by ɑ.
Stems containing two nonadjacent consonantal positions, and ending in a long
vowel, also function as heavy. That is, the final long vowel is treated as equivalent to the
sequence of a vowel plus a consonant. Verbal nouns of heavy vowel-final stems are
illustrated in (3).
(3)
stem-type
example
VblN
gloss
-CvCCʋ-CvCvCCʋ-
-fvykʋ-mvtvllʋ-
ɑ-fə́
yk
ɑ-mtə́
ll
‘be searched’
‘be confused’
These verbal nouns fit nicely into the pattern seen in (2). The only difference is that the
final vowel is deleted in the verbal noun, which therefore lacks a variant with finalsyllable ɑ.
Tamashek verbal noun data illustrate two poles in ablaut phenomena. For the light
stems in (1), we have fixed templates with certain variable positions (generally
consonantal) into which lexical segments are inserted. Each template is associated one-toone with a specific verb-stem shape. For the heavy stems in (2-3), by contrast, we
observe a compositional ablaut process that takes a wide range of stems as inputs and
modifies them by overlaying multiple ablaut components (in addition to any affixes),
including a stem-wide vocalic melody and an accent.
2. Intermediate cases (templatic or compositional?)
But languages with rich ablaut may also have patterns that fall between these poles.
Probably the major analytical problem in Arabic nominal-plural ablaut is deciding
whether particular patterns are learned as fixed templates, or are generated by combining
an input with discrete ablaut formatives. For example, given a productive plural pattern
CaCaaCiC- (and closely related variants CaCaaCiiC- and CaCaaCii-) for inputs
with four lexical consonants, to what extent are we justified in merging this with the
plural patterns in (4) for various lighter (e.g. triconsonantal) noun stems?
(4)
common plural patterns for triconsonantal nouns (Arabic)
CiCaaCʔaCCaaCCuCuuC-
Three of these triconsonantal patterns have a long vowel in the second syllable, as does
quadriconsonantal CaCaaCiC-. It has therefore been argued that an iambic prosodic
element is one of the formatives operative here. But even leaving aside the (less
common) triconsonantal plural patterns with short vowels, such as CuCuC- (e.g.
mudun- ‘cities’ from singular madiin-at-), the residue left after factoring out the
iambic element does not lend itself to exhaustive segmentation. CiCaaC- and
CuCuuC- diverge in vowel quality from the onset of quadriconsonantal CaCaaCiC-, so
a constant ablaut melody cannot be assumed. ʔaCCaaC- could only be unified with the
onset of CaCaaCiC- by assuming an ad hoc metathesis rule followed by an irregular
glottal-insertion rule.2 I favor a templatic analysis of these triconsonantal plural forms,
but others favor decomposing the patterns into formatives. Clearly, fixed templates and
productive componential generation are both linguistically possible. So how can we
adjudicate alternative analyses of intermediate cases?
The relevance of Tamashek to this issue consists in the sensitivity of certain of its
ablaut patterns to syntactic context, in a manner not found in Semitic. To be sure, Arabic
is full of morphological dependencies between a stem (verb or noun) and a preceding
element (verb + subject, preposition + noun, complementizer + verb), but these
dependencies are expressed by suffixation (e.g. the verbal subjunctive, the nominal
2
Metathesis of /CaCaaC-/ to /aCCaaC-/ would create a vowel-initial word. Such
words, including nouns beginning with definite prefix (ʔ)al-, do grow an initial glottal
stop in Classical Arabic, but only postpausally: noun ʔal-kalb(-u) 'the dog', but PP
min al-kalb(-i) 'from the dog'. The initial glottal in ablaut plural ʔaCCaaC- is
not this low-level postpausally inserted glottal; it occurs in all environments, e.g. in
definite (ʔ)al-ʔaCCaaC-.
accusative and genitive cases). In Tamashek, verbal morphology expresses certain
dependencies of this type by modifying (i.e. adding, deleting, or shifting) stem-internal
ablaut formatives, which gives us prima facie grounds for segmenting these formatives as
morphologically discrete ablaut components.
3. Basics of Tamashek verbal ablaut.
3.1. Categories and aspectual systems.
Tamashek verbs have the array of inflectable stems illustrated in (5) for the verb vjrvw- ‘get’. Except for the imperative, which has a bare singular-subject form along
with special suffixed MaPl and FePl subject forms, all of the stems are inflected by
means of an invariant pronominal-subject paradigm (involving a mix of prefixes and
suffixes) that need not concern us until much later in the paper.
(5)
a. perfective system
perfective positive (PerfP)
resultative (Reslt)
perfective negative (PerfN)
-əjræw-əjrɑ́
w-əjrew-
b. short imperfective system
short imperfective (ShImpf)
imperative (Imprt)
-əjrəwəjrəw-
c. long imperfective system
long imperfective positive (LoImpfP)
long imperfective negative (LoImpfN)
prohibitive (Prohib)
-jɑ́
rræw-jərrəw-jærræw-
The imperative is diagnostic for the lexical syllabic shape of Tamashek verbs. In (5),
-vjrvw- is supported as lexical stem-shape by several other stems in the perfective and
short imperfective systems.
For this particular shape, formulaically -vPQvC- with nongeminate cluster PQ,
the short imperfective system has a stem-wide high-vowel melody {H}, while the
perfective system is based on a high-low contour melody {HL}, seen in its pure form in
the perfective positive -əjræw- with high short ə and low short æ.3
3.2. Perfective system
3
Tamashek has only two short vowels, of which ə patterns as high and æ as low. There
are five long vowels {u o ɑ e i}.
The perfective-system basic stem -əjræw- is subject to two further elaborations. First,
in the scope of negative preverbal particle wær (contextual variant wər) the final-syllable
æ is lengthened and shifted to e.4 Contrast (positive) əjræw-æɣ ‘I got’ with its negation
wər əjrew-æɣ ‘I didn’t get’. Secondly, and of greater importance to ablaut modeling,
is the resultative, which lengthens short æ to full (or long) vowel ɑ, and adds a marked
accent. These formatives combine with the basic stem to form -əjrɑ́
w-, as in 1Sg
5
subject əjrɑ́
w-æɣ ‘I have already gotten’. This last form can be derived as shown in
(6a-c). χ́
-pc1 represents accentuation, and χ̄-pc1 represents lengthening. Both target the
first postconsonantal vowel ("pc1").
(6)
Resultative
a. -vjrvw-
lexical skeleton
b. -vjrvw- + {HL}
→ -əjræw-
(a) plus melody
perfective-system basic stem
c. -əjræw- + χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1
→ -əjrɑ́
w-
(b) plus accent and length
resultative stem
(6b) with no further modification surfaces as the perfective positive. The resultative
requires the further step in (6c).
3.3. Short imperfective system.
The short imperfective system consists of the (positive) imperative, and the short
imperfective, which is used after future preverbal particles and in some subordinated
clauses. For verbs of the -vPQvC- shape, it is characterized by a {H} vocalic melody,
hence -əPQəC-. For -vjrvw- 'get', examples are the imperative əjrəw 'get!' and
conjugated future forms like ɑd n-əjrəw 'we will get'. The short imperfective has a
very simple ablaut system, and I will have little to say about it.
3.4. Long imperfective system.
3.4.1. Long imperfective system for light verbs.
4
Either e or ɑ may function as the long equivalent of short æ. This is seen, for example,
in nominal morphology, where both ɑ- and e- are common as singular prefix
allomorphs, and both converge as æ- as the result of a prefix-reduction process that
applies in various morphosyntactic contexts.
5
Resultative is not distinguished from ordinary perfective under negation. The perfective
negative negates both the resultative and the perfective positive.
The long imperfective system is the most distinctive, since it involves changes in
consonantism and in syllabic structure as well as other ablaut formatives. For verbs of
lexical stem-shape -vPQvC-, the second consonant Q is geminated to QQ, and the initial
consonant P becomes initial, likely as a secondary resyllabification due to this
gemination. This converts lexical -vPQvC- to the long imperfective prosodic skeleton
-PvQQvC- (where each "v" represents, as before, an unspecificd short vowel).
One could think of -PvQQvC- as the long imperfective prosodic skeleton for the
lexical -vPQvC- verb type, but such a skeleton has no special role to play in the
morphology except when combined with a melody to form a basic stem. For nearly all
verb types, the basic long imperfective melody is either {L} or {H}, the choice
depending on the precise stem-shape. For -vPQvC- verbs like -vjrvw- ‘get’, the basic
long imperfective melody is {L}. Combining this with the prosodic skeleton -jvrrvwproduces the long imperfective basic stem -jærræw-. From this basic stem are derived
the three actual stems in this system.6
The most grammatically unmarked of these derived stems is the long imperfective
positive. It is the most common imperfective positive form in main clauses, occurring in
both progressive and present habitual contexts. It is formed by adding two ablaut
formatives to the long imperfective basic stem -jærræw-. These are identical to the two
local formatives that are added to the perfective-system basic stem to produce the
resultative, cf. (6c) above, namely accent (χ́
-pc1) and lengthening (χ̄-pc1) of the first
postconsonantal vowel ("pci"). Adding these to -jærræw- yields the long imperfective
positive -jɑ́
rræw-, whose first syllable replaces short æ with an accented full/long ɑ́
.
The derivation in (7) is remarkably parallel to that of resultative -əjrɑ́
w- in (6) above.
(7)
Long imperfective positive
a. -vjrvw-
lexical skeleton of stem
b. -vjrvw- + gemination + {L}
→
-jærræw-
(a) plus consonantal change, melody
long-imperfective-system basic stem
c. -jærræw- + χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1
→
-jɑ́
rræw-
(b) plus (initial) accent and length
long imperfective positive
The fact that both the resultative and the long imperfective positive are formed by adding
the pair of formatives {χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1} to the respective basic stems (perfective, long
imperfective) suggests the possibility that these two formatives jointly constitute a unit
morpheme. In fact, precisely these two inflectional categories have been labeled as
"intensif" (intensive) in French Berberist literature. However, I will show below that
χ́
-pc1 and χ̄-pc1 have subtly different morphological properties and are not fused into a
single morpheme.
6
For some verbs, the long imperfective basic stem is irregular or suppletive and therefore
clearly lexicalized.
In addition to the long imperfective positive, e.g. -jɑ́
rræw- 'gets', the long
imperfective system also includes two morphologically closely related stems that occur
after negative particle wær (~ wər). These two stems (one indicative and one deontic)
reflect the same basic stem as the long imperfective positive, but both lack the
lengthening and accent of the first postconsonantal vowel. For indicative mood, the
imperfective form used after wær is the long imperfective negative, e.g. wər ijərrəw
'he doesn't get'. This verb form is invariably characterized by a {H} vocalic melody
regardlesss of whether the long imperfective basic stem has {H} or {L} melody. This
shows that the long imperfective negative is constituted by overlaying its own {H}
melody on top of the variable melody of the long imperfective basic stem, which is
thereby erased.
In the negative imperative construction, and in some other special contexts, the
form used after negative wær is the prohibitive. It consists precisely of the long
imperfective basic stem. As noted above, lexical -vPQvC- verbs like 'get' have {L}
melody as part of the long imperfective basic stem, in this case -jærræw-. For all verb
types with {L} melody in this basic stem, the prohibitive is audibly distinct from the long
imperfective negative: prohibitive: wær jærræw 'don't get!' with {L} melody versus
long imperfective negative wər i-jərrəw 'he doesn't get' with {H} melody. For some other
verb types, viz., those whose long imperfective basic stem has {H} melody, the
prohibitive and the long imperfective negative stems are homophonous. Examples are
given in (10) below. Even when the prohibitive and long imperfective negative are
homophonous, their ablaut derivations are distinct, since the long imperfective negative
has an extra {H} melody overlay, although for these verbs it produces no audible change.
For ‘get’, the three stems derived from long imperfective positive basic stem
-jɑ́
rræw- are therefore long imperfective positive -jɑ́
rræw- (with χ́
-pc1 and
χ̄-pc1), long imperfective negative -jərrəw- (with stem-wide {H} melody), and
prohibitive -jærræw- (with no ablaut increments). As drafts to be corrected later, I
derive the prohibitive and the long imperfective negative as in (8) and (9), respectively.
(8)
Prohibitive
a. -vjrvw-
lexical skeleton of stem
b. -vjrvw- + gemination + {H}
→
-jærræw-
(a) plus consonantism and melody
long imperfective basic stem
c.
(no further change)
prohibitive
→
(9)
-jærræw-
Long imperfective negative
a. -vjrvw-
lexical skeleton of stem
b. -vjrvw- + gemination + {H}
(a) plus consonantism and melody
→
-jærræw-
c. -jvrrvw- +{L}
→
-jərrəw-
long-imperfective-system basic stem
(b) plus overriding melody
long imperfective negative
In this preliminary modeling, the long imperfective negative and especially the
prohibitive are actually simpler morphologically than the grammatically basic long
imperfective positive, compare (9c) and especially (8c) to (7c). This is paradoxical, since
negative categories are more highly marked semantically, especially when two distinct
negative stems corresponding to a single positive category. There is a mismatch here
between morphological and grammatical markedness. There is no similar mismatch in the
perfective system, where the perfective negative stem used after negative particle wær,
e.g. -əjrew- in wər əjrew- 'did not get', is prosodically heavier than, and has one
more ablaut formative than, its positive counterpart -əjrəw- (with full/long vowel e
versus short vowel ə).
Later I will suggest that the long imperfective negative and the prohibitive stems
lend themselves to a more complex ablaut modeling than the long imperfective positive,
involving addition then deletion or other manipulation of ablaut formatives. This will
entail revision in the ablaut modelings (8) and (9).
3.4.2. Long imperfective system for heavy verbs.
Examples (5-9) have all dealt with a representative -vPQvC- verb. The lexical skeleton
type -vPQvC- has just two nonadjacent consonantal positions, occupied respectively by
the cluster PQ and by the final C, so this type belongs to the general class of
(prosodically) light verbs. Light verbs show many ablaut idiosyncracies, requiring in
some contexts a breakup of "light verb" into an array of more specific shapes like
-vPQvC-, -vCvC-, and -vPPvC- with medial geminate. These idiosyncracies are
apparent in verbal noun formation, see (1), but also in the long imperfective system (full
details omitted here) and some other inflectable stems.
By contrast, (prosodically) heavy verbs, those with at least three nonadjacent
consonant positions (a final long/full vowel counting as one consonantal position), see (2)
above, have much more regular morphology. Representative forms for the three stems of
the long imperfective system are given in (10). Also presented is the imperative (from the
short imperfective system), from which the the lexical skeleton can be inferred.
(10)
gloss
Imperative LoImpfP7
Prohib
LoImpfN
a. {L} melody in long imperfective basic stem
7
In forms like these long imperfective positives, where the grammatical accent occurs
three syllables from the right edge of the word, the grammatical accent is never
distinctively audible since the same syllable would be accented anyway (there is a default
antepenultimate accentuation rule). When the grammatical accent occurs four or more
syllables from the right edge, it is suppressed.
‘gesture’
-t-əšiwij-
šiwəj
-t-ɑ́
šɑwɑj-
b. {H} melody in long imperfective basic stem
‘be obligatory' huššəl -t-í
həššul-t-əhəššul- -t-əhəššul‘do sorcery’
kərikəw -t-í
krikiw-t-əkrikiw‘shine’
mələwləw -t-í
mləwliw-t-əmləwliw-
-t-æšɑwɑj-
-t-əkrikiw-t-əmləwliw-
Inspection of the rightmost three columns in (10) shows that the three derived stems of
the long imperfective system are closely related, sharing the same basic prosodic
structure. For heavy verbs, the long imperfective basic stem (identical to the prohibitive)
is characterized not by gemination of a medial consonant, as in -jɑ́
rræw- 'gets', rather
by prefixation of -t-. There are two additional components in the formation of the long
imperfective basic stem. First, each prosodic subtype of heavy verb has a basic long
imperfective melody, either {L} (10a) or {H} (10b). As usual, this melody is overridden
in the long imperfective negative by the latter's own {H} melody. Second, the final
syllable of heavy verbs lengthens its vowel, so we get full/long vowels {ɑ i u} in the
final syllables of long imperfectives, versus short {æ ə} in the same position in
imperatives. The choice between ɑ and {i u} is determined by the stem-wide melody, ɑ
for {L} melody and {i u} for {H} melody. i is regular for {H} melody, but we get u for
verbs like 'be obligatory' in (10b) whose imperatives have a medial u.
Since long imperfectives of heavy verbs lengthen the final-syllable vowel, we
must include a length formative in the constitution of the long imperfective basic stem for
these verbs. This formative, whose effects are therefore observable in all three derived
stems of the long imperfective system, can be labeled χ̄-f, with "f" for final. This is
(superficially) parallel to the χ̄-pc1 length formative that targets the first
postconsonantal vowel. χ̄-pc1 is operative in (10), but only in the long imperfective
positive, which has full/long vowels {ɑ i} corresponding to short {æ ə} in the other
two long imperfective stems. Although χ̄-f and χ̄-pc1 have the same phonological
content (vowel lengthening), they have very different statuses in the ablaut morphology.
χ̄-f, a consonantal change (gemination, prefixation of -t-), and a vocalic melody
jointly constitute the long imperfective basic stem. This is the foundation for all three
derived stems of this system, one of which (the long imperfective positive) adds χ̄-pc1
(along with the accent formative χ́
-pc1 l). We will see below that χ̄-pc1 (and χ́
-pc1 l),
but not χ̄-f, is subject to manipulation in syntactically defined contexts.
We are now in a position to model the various long imperfective forms in (10). A
model for -t-í
mləwliw-, long imperfective positive of 'shine', is (11).
(11)
Long imperfective positive of 'shine'
a. -mvlvwlvw-
bare lexical form of stem
b. -mvlvwlvw- + -t- + {H} + χ̄-f (a) plus consonantism, melody, and
final length
→
-t-əmləwliwlong imperfective basic stem
c. -t-əmləwliw- + χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1 (b) plus initial accent and length
→
-t-í
mləwliwlong imperfective positive
The prohibitive and long imperfective negative lack the two formatives added in (11c).
Prohibitive -t-əmləwliw- is identical to the long imperfective basic stem (11b). Long
imperfective -t-əmləwliw- consists structurally of the same long imperfective basic
stem plus an additional {H} melody, which for this verb has no audible effect.
3.5. Abaut accent versus default antepenultimate accent.
Ablaut accent can only overt when it is heard on a word's penultimate or ultimate
syllable. In words of three or more syllables, an underlying antepenult or earlier accent is
overridden by a default accent on the antepenult. For example, the accent in long
imperfective positive -t-í
mləwliw- 'shines' is abstract even when word-final,
phonetic [-'timluliw]. This is because of a default accent rule that targets
antepenultimate syllables unless the penult or ultimate has a marked (lexical or ablaut)
accent. The default accent is heard in e.g. long imperfective negative -t-əmləwliw-,
which is heard as [-'təmluliw] when word-final. For both -t-í
mləwliw- and
-t-əmləwliw-, addition of a further syllabic suffix or enclitic at the right edge shifts
the default accent another syllable to the right. For example, 3MaPl subject forms are
long imperfective positive t-í
mləwliw-æn 'they shine', realized as [tim'luliwæn]
with no trace of the ablaut accent on the first syllable, and long imperfective negative
wær t-əmləwliw-æn 'they do not shine', realized as [wærtəm'luliwæn].
In spite of the fact that the accent in -t-í
mləwliw- is normally overridden by
the default accent, I write it in phonological transcriptions by analogy to lighter verbs
where it is overt in penults or ultimates, and because under some conditions it can shift
one syllable to the right.
3.6. Inventory of ablaut components
The inventory of ablaut components (local formatives plus vocalic melodies) for the
perfective and long imperfective systems may now be presented as (12), disregarding
some stem-class-specific detail not directly relevant here.
(12)
a. perfective system
basic stem:
Resultative also:
Perfective negative also:
lexical skeleton plus {HL} melody
χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1
æ > e (under some conditions)
b. long imperfective system
basic stem
LoImpf positive also:
LoImpf negative also:
lexical skeleton plus consonantal change,
χ̄-f, and {H} or {L} melody
χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1
{H} (overlaid)
4. Behavior of χ́
-pc1 and χ̄-pc1.
The most interesting formatives for our purposes are χ́
-pc1 and χ̄-pc1. They are readily
segmentable, since they occur in just one derived stem within each of the two aspectual
systems. They also (usually) co-occur, raising the possibility that the two function jointly
as a single morpheme. We will focus on these two formatives in the rest of the paper.
4.1. {χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1} as unit morpheme?
Not only do χ́
-pc1 (accent) and χ̄-pc1 (length) have the same target (first
postconsonantal vowel), they are also both associated with the same aspectual categories,
namely the resultative (in the perfective system) and the long imperfective positive. If a
common semantic feature can be found to link these two categories, a case could be made
that the pair { χ́
-pc1, χ̄-pc1} functions as a unit morpheme.
The resultative denotes a current state produced by an event or action ('has
already VPed'). Some resultatives are statives that are best translated with the English
present tense, e.g -əssɑ́
n- 'know(s)' (literally "has come to know"). The sense of the
long imperfective positive is primarily progressive ('is running') or generalized present
('runs'). The two categories are both limited to positive clauses, and they have sufficient
aspectual similarities (stative, imperfective) to make a connection plausible. In
Francophone Berberist linguistics, the resultative and the long imperfective positive have
both been labeled as "intensif(s)." There is no semantic hurdle to treating {χ́
-pc1,
χ̄-pc1} as a unit morpheme.
4.2. Behavior of χ́
-pc1 and χ̄-pc1 in definite relatives.
4.2.1. Basics of main-clause structure
Constituent order is Tamashek clauses is VSO when both subject and object are
nonpronominal NPs. The verb is initial, except for a complementizers and, in main
clauses, one or more of three preverbal particles: negative wær ~ wər, future ɑ(d) ~ e,
and past kælɑ́
. The latter is confined to tense-aspect embedding contexts, e.g. past
imperfective (kælɑ́+ imperfective = 'was VPing'), and it does not occur in ordinary
perfective clauses denoting completed events ('ran'). Directionals (centripetal,
centrifugal) and nonsubject pronominals (objects, datives) are encliticized to the first
word (verb, complementizer, or preverbal particle), i.e. they appear in Wackernagel's
position.
(13a) illustrates VSO order. The verb agrees with the following (masculine plural)
subject NP 'children'. In (13b), the verb is preceded by preverbal particles (negative and
future, which fuse into an irregular combination in this dialect). The verb again agrees
with the following subject. The object pronominal =tæt encliticizes to the preverbal
particles.
(13)
a.
əɣræs-æn
ɑrɑ-tæn
slaughter.Perf-3MaPlSubj
child-MaPl
'The children slaughtered (the) sheep-Pl.'
b.
u-mɑr=tæt
-æŋɣ
t-i-hɑtt-en
Fe-Pl-sheep-FePl
æ-hɑ́
ləs d-i-hɑ́
-
dæɣ
Neg-Fut=3FeSgObj 3MaSgSubj-kill.ShImpf Sg-man
'(A/The) man will not kill her here.'
here
4.2.2. Basics of relative-clause structure
Tamashek distinguishes subject from nonsubject relatives. In both, the head noun
precedes the relative clause proper. In a subject relative, the verb takes participial form,
agreeing with the subject head NP in nominal features (number, gender) but not person.
In a nonsubject relative, the verb has regular main-clause-like inflection including full
pronominal-subject marking. The subject/nonsubject distinction is not particularly
important for ablaut mechanics, since participles have the same aspectual categories (and
the same ablaut formatives) as main-clause verbs.
The subject/nonsubject relative opposition is crosscut by a sharp distinction
between definite and definite relatives, and this distinction interacts deeply with stem
ablaut. Definite relative clauses are characterized by an initial demonstrative, the
overwhelmingly most common one being -ɑ́
/-í(MaSg w-ɑ́
, FeSg t-ɑ́
, MaPl w-í
,
FePl t-í
). The demonstrative follows the head noun, if any, but it is phrased
prosodically with the following verb. I therefore take the demonstrative to be the internal
head of the relative, and demarcate the relative clause from the head noun with brackets.
The coindexed NP following the verb is expressed as zero (trace, gap).
In indefinite relatives, the head noun is not followed by a demonstrative. Instead,
the noun itself is phrased prosodically with the following verb. If the noun is omitted, its
place is taken by a special indefinite head marked only for gender (masculine i, feminine
t-i).8 The coindexed NP internal following the verb is again expressed as zero.
Omitting some details, the basic patterns are schematized in (14ab). The overt head noun
in the definite relative is optional.
8
A distinct morpheme ì
, with no distinct feminine variant, functions as an appositional
clause-internal head following a personal pronoun, which cannot directly head a relative.
This construction, i.e. Pronoun [ìverb …], is a definite relative in structure.
(14)
a. definite relative: (Nounx) [Demx Verb … x …]
b. indefinite relative: [Nounx /Indefx Verb … x …]
4.2.3. χ̄-pc1 Erasure in definite relatives.
In definite relatives, whether subject (i.e. participial) or nonsubject, the length formative
χ̄-pc1 that is otherwise obligatory in the resultative ("intensive" of the perfective
system) and in the long imperfective positive ("intensive" of the long imperfective
system) is deleted. This deletion does not occur in indefinite relatives.
Consider the verb 'stand (up)' whose lexical skeleton is -vbdvd-. The perfective
system basic stem is -əbdæd-, so the resultative (which adds χ̄-pc1 and χ́
-pc1) is
-əbdɑ́
d- in main clauses (15a) and indefinite relatives (15b). Its form changes in
definite relatives, precisely by undoing the effect of χ̄-pc1, so the stem-medial vowel
appears as short æ rather than as full/long ɑ (15c).
(15)
a.
i-bdɑ́
d
3MaSgSubj-stand.Result
'He has stood up (and is still standing).'
b.
[æhɑ́
ləs
i-bdɑd-æn]
[man
3MaSgSubj-stand.Result-MaSgPartpl]
'a man who has stood up (and is still standing).'
c.
æhɑ́
ləs [w-ɑ́
i-bdǽ
d-æn]
man
[Ma-DemSg
3MaSgSubj-stand.Result-MaSgPartpl]
'the man who has stood up (and is still standing).'
The long imperfective basic stem is -bæddæd-, with the medial consonant geminated
and with {L} melody. Therefore the long imperfective positive (which adds χ̄-pc1 and
χ́
-pc1) is -bɑ́
ddæd- in main clauses (16a) and indefinite relatives (16b). In definite
relatives, the effect of χ̄-pc1 is again undone, so the first stem vowel appears as short æ
rather than as full/long ɑ (16c).
(16)
a.
i-bɑ́
ddæd
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'He has stood up (and is still standing).'
b.
[æhɑ́
ləs
i-bɑ́
ddæd-æn]
[man
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos-MaSgPartpl]
'a man who is standing up.'
c.
æhɑ́
ləs [w-ɑ́
i-bǽ
ddæd-æn]
man
[Ma-DemSg 3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos-MaSgPartpl]
'the man who is standing up.'
My claim, which is open to contestation (but probably not to refutation), is that the
reduced ablaut structure of the verbs in (15c) and (16c) reflects complex derivations in
which χ̄-pc1 is first added to the verb (at the word-level) and then stripped away (at the
clausal level). The latter process can be called χ̄-pc1 Erasure. Sample derivations are
schematized in (17), whose columns should be read downward.
(17)
Long imperfective positive in definite relatives
resultative long imperfective positive
comment
-vbdvd-əbdæd-əbdɑ́
d-əbdǽ
d-
lexical skeleton
basic stems for the relevant system
addition of χ̄-pc1 and χ́
-pc1
χ̄-pc1 Erasure
-vbdvd-bæddæd-bɑ́
ddæd-bǽ
ddæd-
The alternative to this addition-then-subtraction model is to build tight syntactic
restrictions into the process by which χ̄-pc1 is initially added. The speaker would have
to scan the clause structure, noting particularly whether a definite demonstrative occurs
as the internal head noun, as opposed to a common noun like 'man' or an indefinite head
(i, t-i). I return to this issue below.
That χ̄-pc1 Erasure is specifically an ablaut-formative process, rather than a
general phonological rule, is shown by the fact that lexical full/long vowels are not
shortened. This is shown by the fact that the initial full/long vowel (symbol ʋ) in
-ʋCvC- and -ʋCCvC- stems like -ʋjvy- 'tie' and -ʋɣsvy- '(animal) die' do not
shorten in any morphosyntactic context. For example, compare (15c) and (16c) above,
where the first vowels in -(ə)bdǽ
d- and-bǽ
ddæd- have been re-shortened from (ə)bdɑ́
d- and -bɑ́
ddæd-, with (18ab), where the initial vowels of 'tie' remain
full/long {o i}.
(18)
a.
æhɑ́
ləs [w-ɑ́
-ojǽ
y-æn]
man
[Ma-DemSg
3MaSgSubj-tie.Result-MaSgPartpl]
'the man who has tied (sth).'
b.
æhɑ́
ləs [w-ɑ́
i-t-í
jəy-æn]
man
[Ma-DemSg 3MaSgSubj-tie.LongImpfPos-MaSgPartpl]
'the man who is standing up.'
The different behavior of ablaut-lengthened and lexically full/long vowels, only the
former being subject to (re-)shortening, is evidence that ablaut formatives can remain
accessible to manipulation even after having been attached to particular stem segments.
4.2.4. Rightward Accent Shift affecting χ́
-pc1 in definite relatives.
In the definite relative examples just given, χ̄-pc1 (length) is erased but χ́
-pc1 (accent)
is retained. This effectively blows up the idea that the pair {χ̄-pc1, χ́
-pc1} is a unit
morpheme with a vaguely stative/imperfective aspectual quality. The two formatives
usually converge on the same vowel, but they are structurally independent of each other
and can be separately manipulated.
Admittedly, in (16c) we can't really prove that the ablaut accent is present, since
the syllable it targets ends up (after addition of the participial suffix) being the antepenult,
which is targeted by the default accentuation process (§3.5 above). However, in nearly
every case where the syllable targeted by χ́
-pc1 is a noninitial penult or ultimate, it
remains overt in the verb (or participle) of a definite relative, as in (15c). In the specific
case of (16c), if we replace the (participially suffixed) subject relative by an unsuffixed
nonsubject relative, we can hear the ablaut accent on the penult of -bǽ
ddæd (19).
(19)
é
-dægg
[w-ɑ́
=dæɣ
i-bǽ
ddæd]
Ma-place
[Ma-DemSg=in 3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos]
'the place in which he is standing up'
I therefore assume that the accent formative is virtually (underlyingly) present even in
longer words where the it is overridden by the default accent.
Under some conditions, however, the ablaut accent shifts one syllable to the right,
or (rarely) is deleted entirely. In (15-16) and (19), I have intentionally chosen third
masculine singular subjects, which require a syllabic prefix i- on verbs that would
otherwise begin with ə or a consonant. There is one other pronominal-subject prefix that
is treated as syllabic in these positions, namely 1Pl nə- ~ n-. In addition, some verbs
have an initial short or long vowel preceding the first postconsonantal vowel of the stem
proper in the perfective system.
In definite relatives, the presence of an initial syllable preceding the first stemconsonant position, whether a syllabic prefix or a stem-initial vowel, protects χ́
-pc1 from
shift or deletion. In this event, the accent surfaces on the same syllable as in main clauses
and in indefinite relatives. However, some other pronominal-subject categories have
either no prefix, or a prefix that is subject to phonological deletion. A complete paradigm
is not necessary, but examples of the three relevant situations are in (20).
(20)
a. one syllable preceding the first postconsonantal vowel of the stem
i3MaSg
ə, æ
stem-initial short vowel
b. consonantal prefix subject to phonological deletion before another C
t3FeSg (no suffix)
tall second person categories (along with suffixes)
c. no prefix (categories expressed by suffixes)
(zero) 1Sg, 3MaPl, 3FePl
The presence of an initial syllable in (20a) and its absence in (20b-c) affect the location of
the ablaut accent in definite relatives. The most useful pronominal-subject category to
contrast with third masculine singular i- is third feminine singular t-. This is because
prefix t- reduces to - by phonological rule before a stem-initial consonant, and
because this category has no pronominal-subject suffix in main clauses or in nonsubject
relatives. The other categories with no prefix (20c) or with a deletable prefix (20b) have a
syllabic suffix in relatives, which force default accentuation on the word-antepenult
(identical to the stem penult) unless the ablaut accent formative has targeted the stemultimate.
Note the position of the accents on the verb in masculine (21a) versus feminine
(21b), and in masculine (21c) versus feminine (21d).
(21)
a.
æhɑ́
ləs [w-ɑ́
i-bǽ
ddæd-æn]
man
[Ma-DemSg 3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos-MaSgPartpl]
'the man who is standing up.' [repeated from (16c)]
b.
t-ɑ-mǽ
ṭṭ [t-ɑ́
-bæddǽ
d-æt]
Fe-Sg-woman [Fe-DemSg 3FeSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos-FeSgPartpl]
'the woman who is standing up.'
c.
é
-dægg
[w-ɑ́
=dæɣ
i-bǽ
ddæd]
Ma-place [Ma-DemSg=in
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos]
'the place in which he is standing up' [repeated from (18)]
d.
é
-dægg
[w-ɑ́
=dæɣ
-bæddǽ
d]
Ma-place [Ma-DemSg=in
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos]
'the place in which she is standing up'
In (20a), the ablaut accent on i-bǽ
ddæd-æn is covert, being made redundant by default
accentuation on the antepenult. However, the fact that an ablaut accent is covertly present
in (20a) is demonstrated by its overt appearance in (20b), after it has shifted one syllable
to the right. Since (20c-d) are nonsubject relatives, they lack participial suffixes like -æn
and -æt that do appear in (20a-b). As a result, the verb in (20c) has an overt accent on the
penult, and that in (20d) has one on the ultimate.
Based on data like these, a process of Rightward Accent Shift must be posited. It
applies in definite relative clauses whose first postconsonantal syllable (hence the
syllable initially targeted by χ́
-pc1 at word-level) is also the word-initial syllable. It shifts
the accent one syllable to the right.
4.2.5. Rightward Accent Shift is not (any longer) clash avoidance.
Since Rightward Accent Shift moves an ablaut accent from the first to the second syllable
of a verb following a demonstrative, which is often accented, we must consider the
possibility that the shift is motivated by clash avoidance. In this analysis, w-ɑ́
i-bǽ
ddæd-æn in (20a) does not require repair because the two accents are already
separated by a buffering syllable, whereas underlying /t-ɑ́t-bǽ
ddæd-æt/ in (20b)
has adjacent accented syllables and must be repaired by shifting the accent rightward,
accounting for the attested t-ɑ́-bæddǽ
d-æt.
Clash avoidance is almost certainly the historical source of Rightward Accent
Shift. This accounts immediately for the correlation of the shift with the absence of a
word-initial syllable preceding the initially accented syllable. However, a more or less
purely phonological analysis along these lines does not work synchronically.
First, demonstratives like masculine singular w-ɑ́are clearly accented in many
Tamashek dialects, but they can be unaccented in the Kal Ansar dialect studied here. This
is shown by the conjunction in (22).
(22)
w-ɑ
[əd
Ma-DemSg [with
'this and this'
w-ɑ]
Ma-DemSg]
(22) is pronounced ['wɑ'ədwɑ] with the final syllable unaccented in this dialect, versus
['wɑəd'wɑ] with final-syllable accent in some others. In other words, in the PP əd wɑ the demonstrative is treated in this dialect as unaccented, so a default accent appears on
the preposition. Compare other PPs like əd hæræt 'with (a/the) thing', phonetic
['ədhæræt], with lexically unaccented noun hæræt 'thing'.
Secondly, (21d) shows that the insertion of an unstressed but syllabic enclitic, in
this instance a pied-piped preposition, does not prevent Rightward Accent Shift, although
the enclitic should have a buffering role (separating the two clashing accented syllables),
in the same fashion as a prefixal syllable. To salvage a phonological clash-avoidance
analysis, one would have to allow the "phonological" rule to apply before clitics are
attached to the clause-initial demonstrative.
Thirdly, Rightward Accent Shift is attested only with ablaut-accented verbs in
definite relative clauses. It has not been observed in nouns. There are three preverbal
particles that end in an accented syllable (past kælɑ́
, conditional ɑjú
d 'if', and wælɑ́
'even [if]'). Rightward Accent Shift and χ̄-pc1 Erasure apply after the past particle
(23a-b), but neither applies after the other two (23c-f).
(23)
a.
kælɑ́
i-bǽ
ddæd
Past
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'He was standing up.'
b.
kælɑ́
-bæddǽ
d
Past
3FeSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'She was standing up.'
c.
ɑjú
d
i-bɑ́
ddæd
if
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'if he is standing up'
d.
ɑjú
d
if
-bɑ́
ddæd
3FeSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'if she is standing up'
e.
wælɑ́
i-bɑ́
ddæd
even
3MaSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'Even if he is standing up.'
f.
wælɑ́
-bɑ́
ddæd
even
3FeSgSubj-stand.LongImpfPos
'Even if she is standing up.'
4.2.6. ́
-Erasure
Under very specific conditions, the accent formative ́
-pc1 is not (merely) shifted to
another syllable, it is deleted without a trace.
The relevant verbs are those with lexical skeletons like -vPQʋ-, i.e. with stemfinal vowel. Depending on the inflectional and pronominal-subject categories, the final
vowel surfaces as a full/long vowel ɑ, a short vowel {æ ə}, or zero. An example is
-vbsʋ- 'vomit', whose forms include i-bsɑ 'he vomited', əbsæ-næt 'they (feminine)
vomited', and ɑd -æbs 'he will vomit'. The long imperfective basic stem is
/-bæssæ-/, with the final vowel subject to deletion word-finally. Adding ́
-pc1 and ̄pc1, we get long imperfective positive /-bɑ́
ssæ-/, realized as monosyllabic -bɑ́
ss
word-finally. Its third feminine singular subject form /t-bɑ́
ssæ/ is realized in main
clauses as -bɑ́
ss 'she is vomiting'.
When -bɑ́
ss occurs in a definite nonsubject relative, by the rules given above
it should delete ablaut length ̄-pc1 and should shift the ablaut accent from ́
-pc1 one
syllable to the right. Erasure of length is unproblematic, but there is no noninitial syllable
for the accent to shift onto. Theoretically possible repairs include a) restoring the wordfinal underlying vowel of /t-bɑ́
ssæ/ and lengthening it to ɑ (since Tamashek words
cannot end in short vowels), and shift the accent onto it, resulting in #-bæssɑ́
, b)
keeping the accent on the only surface syllable, hence #-bǽ
ss, after failing to find an
alternative host to the right, and c) deleting the accent, yielding unaccented -bæss.
This last solution, which may be called ́
-Erasure, is the one actually adopted. Compare
(24a), where the suffixed third feminine plural form allows Rightward Accent Shift, with
(24b), where the accent on the monosyllabic third feminine singular form disappears
without trace, in the absence of an alternative host syllable to the right. In (24b), only the
demonstrative is accented.9
(24)
9
a.
ɑ̀
w-ɑ́
-bæssǽ
-næt
DemSg Ma-DemSg 2Subj-vomit.LongImpfPos-3FePlSubj
'what they (feminine) vomited'
The phonetic accent in (24b) is really the default accent, at phrasal level, but this does
not affect our argument.
b.
ɑ̀
w-ɑ́
-bæss
DemSg Ma-DemSg 3FeSgSubj-vomit.LongImpfPos
'what she vomited'
The precise formulation of ́
-Erasure is difficult. One possibility is to delink the ablaut
accent to the right, making it a floating accent as in /t-bæssæ+́
/, and offering it no
alternative host syllable to dock on, so it is not realized phonetically. Another is to allow
Rightward Accent Shift to move the accent onto the underlying word-final short vowel,
resulting in presurface /t-bæssǽ
/, then have the accent disappear along with the
disallowed word-final short vowel. A third model is to associate ́
-Erasure more
abstractly with the loss of an underlying vowel in the same word.
None of these options is clearly indicated by other phenomena in Tamashek
morphophonology. It suffices here to reaffirm the point that the ablaut formative ́
-pc1 is
subject to manipulation (shift or deletion) in definite relatives.
For reference, proposed derivations for long imperfective positives including
Rightward Accent Shift or ́
-Erasure in addition to ̄-pci Erasure are given in (25),
expanding the derivational model in (17) above.
(25)
Long imperfective positive in definite nonsubject relatives
'she stands' 'she vomits'
-vbdvd- -vbsʋ-bæddæd- -bæssæ-bɑ́
ddæd- -bɑ́
ssæt-bɑ́
ddæd t-bɑ́
ssæ
—
t-bɑ́
ss
in definite relatives:
t-bǽ
ddæd t-bǽ
ss
t-bæddǽ
d —
—
t-bæss
comment
lexical skeleton
basic stem
addition of χ̄-pc1 and χ́
-pc1
pronominal affixation
Final Short Vowel Deletion
χ̄-pc1 Erasure
Rightward Accent Shift
χ́
-Erasure
4.2.7. Revisitation of prohibitive and long imperfective negative
The prohibitive and the long imperfective negative are directly preceded by negative
particle wær ~ wər in both main and relative clauses, so they have no special variant
forms in definite relatives.
In (8-9) above, the ablaut structures of these two stems were modeled in a
maximally simple fashion. With the long imperfective basic stem as input, the prohibitive
adds nothing and the long imperfective negative merely adds its {H} vocalic overlay.
However, a case can be made for a more complex addition-then-subtraction model for
these stems, just as was suggested for long imperfective positives in definite relatives, see
(17) and (25).
This is based on the observation that the long imperfective positive, in spite of its
relative formal markedness (including χ̄-pc1 and χ́
-pc1), is functionally unmarked, as is
generally true of positive as opposed to negative verbal inflections in the world's
languages. The fact that the two negative counterparts have less complex ablaut patterns
is attributable to the presence of a preceding negative morpheme wær ~ wər. The world's
languages are full of similar examples where an overt preverbal particle co-occurs with a
reduced form of a verb. One needs look no farther than Arabic for examples (the
truncated "jussive", with zero modal suffix, is required after perfective negative lam, as in
lam ʔaðhab- 'I did not go', compare regular imperfective ʔaðhab-u 'I go'.
5. Conclusions.
The existence of a syntactically conditioned Rightward Accent Shift demonstrates that
the ablaut formative χ́
-pc1 is not part of a fused unit morpheme with χ̄-pc1. It also
shows that χ́
-pc1 is manipulable. Even though it is initially attached to relevant stem
forms at the word level, it remains accessible as a detachable element and can be
manipulated at a higher syntactic level. A similar conclusion was reached
Definite relative clauses follow the head noun and a coindexed demonstrative. Therefore
'a man who stands up' is expressed by the structure [man [Dem (Neg/Fut) Verb …]]. Any
second-position clitics are added directly to the demonstrative, which must therefore be
considered internal to the relative clause. For subject relatives, the usual pronominalsubject affixes on the verb are replaced by special participial (Ppl) suffixes, which appear
on the verb or on a preceding negative or future particle.
i-ṭṭɑ́
s
kælɑ́i-ṭṭǽ
s
kælɑ́əṭṭǽ
s-æɣ
‘he’s asleep’
‘he was asleep’
‘I was asleep’
ɑ w-ɑ -tætt
ɑ w-ɑ i-tǽ
tt
ɑ w-ɑ tǽ
ttæ-n
‘what she eats' [ɑ'wɑtæt]
‘what he eats'
‘what they eat'
ɑ w-ɑ -rəddú
ɑ w-ɑ i-rə́
ddu
ɑ w-ɑ r-əddó
-ɣ
‘what she thinks'
‘what he thinks'
‘what I think'
i-bɑ́
ddæd
æhɑ́
ləs i-bɑ́
ddæd-æn
‘he stands up'
‘a man who stands up'
æhɑ́
ləs w-ɑ i-bǽ
ddæd-æn
‘the man who stands up'
t-ɑmǽ
ṭṭ t-ɑ (t-)bæddǽ
d-æt
‘the woman who is afraid’
i-hhú
ššæl
'it is obligatory'
hæræt i-hhú
ššæl-æn
'a thing that is obligatory'
hæræt w-ɑ i-hhú
ššæl-æn 'the thing that is obligatory'
t-ó
ræf-t t-ɑ t-əhhú
ššæl-æt
'the vehicle that is obligatory'
hæræt-æn w-i əhhú
ššæl-nen
'the things that are obligatory'
i-t-í
həššul
‘it is necessary’
Ø-t-í
həššul t-ó
ræf-t
‘a vehicle is necessary’
t-ó
ræf-t t-ɑ t-əhə́
ššul-æt
‘the vehicle that is necessary’
ǽ
lwæqq w-ɑ=s t-əhə́
ššul t-ó
ræf-t ‘the time when a vehicle is
necessary’
(also: ǽ
lwæqq w-ɑ́
-dæɣ=əs ...)
ǽ
lwæqq w-ɑ=s i-t-ə́
həššul ə́
mud
‘the time when (a) prayer is
necessary
əssɑ́
n-æɣ
kælɑ́əssǽ
n-æɣ
‘I know'
‘I knew’
t-əmmuttæsæ-t
‘she was afraid’
t-ɑmǽ
ṭṭ t-ɑ t-əmmú
ttæse-t
‘the woman who is afraid’
t-ɑmǽ
ṭṭ t-ɑ=s kælɑ́t-əmmú
ttæsæ-t
‘the woman who was afraid’
t-ɑmǽ
ṭṭ t-ɑ t-æzǽ
zzæwe-t ‘the woman who filed’
t-ɑmǽ
ṭṭ t-ɑ́
zæzzæwe-t
‘a woman who filed’
ǽ
lwæqq
ǽ
lwæqq
ǽ
lwæqq
ǽ
lwæqq
w-ɑ=s=ə́
d Ø-mæl
w-ɑ=s=d i-mǽ
l
w-ɑ=s=ə́
d mæl-ǽ
ɣ
w-ɑ=s=ə́
d mælǽ
-næt
‘the time when she comes’
‘the time when he comes’
‘the time when I come’
‘the time when they-FePl come’
w-ɑ́ə̀
d w-ɑ
‘that and that’
kælái-t-ə́
həššul
‘it was occasionally necessary’
with Dicko
tamǽ
tt wái-wǽ
tt-a-hi ndékat 'where is the woman who hit me?'
əndé
k tí
DeD-en wíì
-wætt-ǽ
n-a-hi
'where are the women who
hit me?'
əndé
k æhá
ləs wíì
-wǽ
tt-a-hi
'where is the man who hit me?'
əndé
k ǽ
ddinæt wíì
-wætt-ǽ
n-a-hi
'where are the people who hit
me?'
é
dægg wái-wǽ
tt-a-hi
'where he hit me'
dæɣ ǽ
-hæn wa ì
-wǽ
tt-a-hi 'in the house where he hit me'
fæl tǽ
hunt
'on the hill'
ækkáwær tǽ
hunt 'I'm going to the hill'
əndé
k si-hái-hátǽ
hunt wát-əkke-d 'where is the hill you
are going to?'
i-TTæS
'he is asleep'
t-əTTæs
'she is sleep'
é
dæg wái-TTæS 'where he sleeps'
é
dæg wáæTTá
S-æn
'where they sleep'
é
dæg wáná
s-æɣ 'where I sleep'
á
r æTTǽ
s dì
há 'she will sleep here'
or máæTTǽ
s dì
há
'she will not sleep here'
əssá
n-æn 'they know'
awáəssá
n-æn íæjjé
n
'what they know is much'
awáihǽ
kku íæjjé
n 'what he gives is a lot
awáihǽ
kkæn
'what they give'
hǽ
kk-æn æjjé
n 'they (m/f) give a lot'
ihǽ
kku
'he gives' 'she gives'