The grammar of Central Atlas Tamazight (also referred to as just TamazightWhile Central Atlas Tamazight is the only Berber language whose speakers use the term Tamaziɣt to refer to their language regularly and exclusively, other Berber groups also refer to their language using this term along with more common local names.) has a two-gender (tawsitThe Amazigh Voice (PDF), p. 10.) system, VSO typology, emphatic consonants (realized in Tamazight as velarized), and a templatic morphology, sharing various similarities with other Berber languages.
Tamazight has a verbo-nominal distinction, with adjectives being a subset of verbs. La Syntaxe de la Langue Berbère
Nouns
Nouns may be masculine or feminine and singular or plural. Definiteness is not marked (even though many loanwords from Arabic contain what was originally the Arabic definite article). Normally plurals end in /-n/, singular masculines have the prefix /a-/ and plurals /i-/, and feminines have the circumfix in singular and in plural. In Ayt Seghrouchen initial /a/ is dropped in many singular nouns, though their plurals and construct states are similar to Ayt Ayache.
Plurals may either involve a regular change ("sound plurals"), internal vowel change ("broken plurals"), or a combination of the two. Some plurals are mixed, e.g. ('hand') > ('hands').
Native masculine singular nouns usually start with in singular and in plural, and "sound plurals" (as opposed to "broken plurals" which also take the suffix in plural). This suffix undergoes the following assimilatory rules:
> (in AA and AS) > (only AA) > ) (only AA)
Native feminine usually are surrounded by (or ) in the singular. "Sound" plurals usually take and "Broken" plurals .
Examples:. /axam/-/ixamn/ 'big tent(s)' (m) /amaziɣ/-/imaziɣn/ '' (m) /adaʃu//-/iduʃa/ 'sandal(s)' (m) /asrdun/-/isrdan/ '' (m) /taxamt/-/tixamin/ 'tent(s)' (f) /tafunast/-/tifunasin/ '' (f) /tagrtilt/-/tigrtal/ 'mat(s)' (f) /tamazirt/-/timizar/ '' (f)
Nouns may be put into the construct state (contrasting with free state) to indicate possession, or when the subject of a verb follows the verb. This is also used for nouns following numerals and some prepositions (note that , 'to', only requires this for feminine nouns), as well as the word ('and'). The construct state is formed as follows:
In masculine nouns: Initial > Initial > Initial > In feminine nouns: Initial > or rarely Initial > or rarely Initial >
Examples (in AA): (< ) 'head of the house' (< ) 'the horse of the bride'
Pronouns Tamazight's use of possessive suffixes mirrors that of many other Afroasiatic languages.
+ Pronouns Person Subject Possessive suffix Object1 (affixed2) Dialect: AA AS AA AS AA AS direct object indirect object I 3 you (ms) 4 you (fs) 4 he 4 she we (m) 4 we (f) you (mp) 4 you (fp) 4 they (m) 4 they (f) 4 of verbs and prepositions whether objective pronouns are prefixed or suffixed is determined by various factors -inw is used when the noun ends in a consonant In Ayt Ayache these have the allomorphs , , , etc. after prepositions. These mutate after (e.g. in ).
Ayt Seghrouchen also has a special set of suffixes for future transitive verbs (which combine with the future marker ):
+ AS future transitive pronouns singular plural m f m f 1st 2nd 3rd
Independent possessives are formed by attaching the possessive suffixes to (if the object possessed is masculine) or ' (for feminine), e.g. ('mine').
Special possessive suffixes are used with kinship terms.
Emphatics are formed with the word , e.g. ('I myself').
+ Demonstratives Proximate Remote (s) (pl) (s) (pl) AA AS AA AS AA AS AA AS (m) (f) suffixes 1 / 2 Ayt Ayache Ayt Seghrouchen
When / / is suffixed to a noun ending in or epenthetic is inserted, e.g. ('this pack-saddle').
Other deictic suffixes: ('this'), ('that'), e.g. ('this house'), ('that house').
Verbs
Verbs are marked for tense, aspect, mood, voice, and polarity, and agree with the number, person, and gender of the subject.
Verb framing
Satellite framing is accomplished with the proximate affixThese are "moveable affixes", like the object pronominal affixes, and whether they are prefixed or suffixed depends on environmental factors /d/ (/dː/ in AS) and remote /nː/, e.g. /dːu/ 'to go' yields /i-dːa/ 'he went', /i-dːa-d/ 'he came', /i-dːa-nː/ 'he went there' (in AS the verb /rˠaħ/ 'to go' is used instead)
Voice
Derived verb stems may be made from basic verb stems to create causatives, reciprocals, recipro-causatives, passives, or habituals.
Causatives are derived from unaugmented stems with the prefix /s(ː)-/.This is a feature of many Afro-Asiatic languages /ħudr/ 'bend' > /sħudr/
Habituals are derived from unaugmented and reciprocal/recipro-causative stems with the prefix /tː-/ (sometimes with internal change), from causatives by an infixed vowel, and from passives by an optional infixed vowel: /fa/ 'yawn' > /tːfa/ (/ħudr/ 'bend' >) /sħudr/ > /sħudur/ (/ʕum/ 'swim' > /mːsʕum/ >) /tːmːsʕum/ (/bdr/ 'mention' > /tːubdr/ >) /tːubdar/
Reciprocals are formed with the prefix /m(ː)-/, and recipro-causatives with /-m(ː)s-/, sometimes with internal change. /sal/ 'ask' > /mːsal/
Passives are formed with the prefix /tːu-/: /ħnːa/ 'pity' > /tːuħnːa/
Tense, mode, and subject
marks future tense, marks interrogative mode, and marks negative mode.
Pronominal complement markers cliticize to the verb, with the indirect object preceding the direct object, e.g. /izn-as-t/ "he sold it to him". + Tamazight subject affixes Subject (AA) (AS) s1 2 3 m f pl1 2 m f 3 m f +Past-tense conjugation of 'cure' (Ayt Ayache) Subject Affirmative Negative s. 1 2 3 m f pl. 1 2 m f 3 m f Central Atlas Tamazight uses a bipartite negative construction (e.g. /uriffiɣ ʃa/ 'he didn't go out') which apparently was modeled after proximate Arabic varieties, in a common development known as Jespersen's Cycle.Contact-induced grammatical change: towards an explicit account (PDF), p. 2. This is a phenomenon where a postverbal item is reanalyzed as being an element of a discontinuous negation marker composed of it and the preverbal negation marker.Jespersen's Cycle in Arabic and Berber (PDF), p. 1. It is present in multiple Berber varieties, and is argued to have originated in neighboring Arabic and been adopted by contact.
Standard negation is accompanied by a negative indefinite pronoun, walu.Negation – An Overview of Typological Research (PDF), pp. 13–14.
+ Imperative conjugation of 'run' in 2nd person AA AS s pl (m) (f)
Tamazight has a null copula. The words 'to be, to do' may function as a copula in Ayt Ayache and Ayt Seghrouchen respectively, especially in structures preceded by /aj/ 'who, which, what'.
Many Arabic loans have been integrated into the Tamazight verb lexicon. They adhere fully to patterns of native stems, and may even undergo ablaut.
Ablaut
In Ayt Ayache, ablaut occurs only in affirmative and/or negative past (in applicable verb classes). Types of ablaut include Ø:i/a, Ø:i, and a:u, which may be accompanied by metathesis. In Ayt Seghrouchen types of ablaut include Ø:i (in negative), i/a, i/u, a-u, and a-i.
Adjectives
Adjectives come after the noun they modify, and inflect for number and gender:WALS – Beber (Middle Atlas)
/argaz amʕdur/ 'the foolish man' (lit. 'man foolish') /tamtˤot tamʕdurt/ 'the foolish woman' /irgzen imʕdar/ 'the foolish men' /tajtʃin timʕdar/ 'the foolish women'
Adjectives may also occur alone, in which case they become an NP.
Practically all adjectives also have a verbal form used for predicative purposes, which behaves just like a normal verb: /i-mmuʕdr urgaz/ 'the man is foolish' (lit. '3ps-foolish man') /argaz i-mmuʕdr-n/ 'the foolish man' [using a non-finite verb]
As such, adjectives may be classed as a subset of verbs which also have other non-verbal features. However Penchoen (1973:21) argues that they are actually nouns.
Particles
Prepositions
Prepositions include ('on'), ('before'), ('to'), and ('until'). These may take pronominal suffixes (see Pronouns).
Some prepositions require the following noun to be in the construct state, while others do not.
+ Prepositions requiringconstruct state Tamazight Gloss 1 'to' 'to' 'in' 'with (instrumental)' 'like' 'on' 'from' 'with' 'of' 'under' 'between' only requires construct state if the following noun is feminine+ Prepositions not requiringconstruct state Tamazight Gloss 'to (directional)' 'before' 'after' 'without' 'until (to)' 'until (to)'
encliticizes onto the following word (which is put into construct state), and assimilates to some initial consonants: it becomes before a noun with initial , before initial , and before initial (note that this creates geminates rather than doubled phonemes, e.g. 'some milk'). Nouns with initial normally drop in when following 'some of', e.g. (< ||) 'some meat', but some don't, following the normal rules of construct state, e.g. (< ||) 'some tea'.
Conjunctions
The conjunction 'and' requires construct state, and also assimilates to a following , e.g. 'the donkey and the cow'.
Other conjunctions include: + Tamazight conjunctions Ayt Ayache Ayt Seghrouchen Gloss when, while , as soon as , who, which whatever wherever whenever whatever whoever and with
Numerals
Cardinal numerals
The first few (1–3 in Ayt Ayache, 1–2 in Ayt Seghrouchen) cardinal numerals have native Berber and borrowed Arabic forms. The Arabic numerals are only used for counting in order and for production of higher numbers when combined with the tens.
+ 1–3 Number Native Borrowed Ayt Ayache Ayt Seghrouchen 1 (m) (f) 2 (m) (f) 3 (m) (f) All higher cardinals are borrowed from Arabic. This is consistent with the linguistic universals that the numbers 1–3 are much more likely to be retained, and that a borrowed number generally implies that numbers greater than it are also borrowed. The retention of one is also motivated by the fact that Berber languages near-universally use unity as a determiner.The Typology of Number Borrowing in Berber (PDF), p. 240.The Typology of Number Borrowing in Berber (slideshow) (PDF)
The numbers 3–9 have special apocopated forms, used before the words ('years'), ('100'), ('1,000'), and ('million'), e.g. ('7 years'; without the preposition ). + 3–9 Number General Apocopated 3 () 4 5 6 7 8 9
The numbers 11–19 only end in before the words ('year') and ('thousand'; without the preposition ).
+ 10–19 10 11 12 13 14 15 / 16 / 17 18 19
is only used for '100' before ('1,000') or ('year'; without the preposition ). Also note the dual forms, and for '2,000,000'.
+ 20–99 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 37 40 50 60 70 80 90 + 100-999 100 154 200 231 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 + 1000- ... 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 10,000 14,000 100,000 200,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 40,000,000 1,000,000,000
Cardinal numbers precede the modified noun, connected by the preposition (optional for the number 1).Cf.
The procliticization-triggered phonological change of may cause / and to become proclitics , , e.g. ('one boy'), ('one girl'), ('two rials').
When referring to money, ('minus') and ('except') may be used, for example: / ('90 [rials]'), ('180 [rials]'), ('195 [rials]').
Nouns following numerals require construct state.
Ordinal numerals
The word for 'the first' is unique in that it is not derived from a cardinal stem and it inflects for number: 'the first' singular plural m f
From 'the second' on, ordinals are formed by prefixing in the masculine and in the feminine (using the native Berber forms of 2 and 3).
Fractions
There are unique words which may be used for some fractions, although male ordinals can be used for 1/4 on.
Tamazight Gloss , 1 'half' '1/3' '1/4' '1/5' '1/6' '1/8' '1/10' may be used in both Ayt Ayache and Ayt Seghrouchen, while is specific to the latter
Syntax