A templatic approach to gemination in the imperfective stem of Tashlhiyt Berber

Mohamed Lahrouchi (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

Tashlhiyt Berber uses, among other processes, gemination to form the imperfective. Most accounts of this phenomenon make reference to syllabic or prosodic structure. In this paper, I diverge from this trend, claiming that imperfective gemination is better analyzed as a templatic-based phenomenon resulting from the morphological activity at the skeletal tier. I will argue for the use in the imperfective of a fixed-shape template over which consonant gemination is realized. Moreover, I will show that tri-, bi- and monoconsonantal verbs share the same template. The surface irregularity that bi- and monoconsonantal verbs display is viewed as the consequence of the identification of templatic positions.

Mots clés: morphology; phonology; imperfective; gemination; verb; Tashlhiyt Berber

Domaines: Linguistique

Mohamed Lahrouchi. A templatic approach to gemination in the imperfective stem of Tashlhiyt Berber. Studies in African Linguistics, 2008, 37 (1), pp.21-60. ⟨halshs-00633014⟩