2011
XII, 188 pp.
numerous tables and charts
Text language: English
Tuareg is a Berber language spoken in the central and southern Sahara. It falls apart in numerous different dialects, each of which has its own special characteristics.
In this book, Ayer Tuareg, the Tuareg spoken in northeastern Niger, is treated. It is among the best documented Tuareg variants, with large text corpora of high quality and great lexicographic tools. Different from a number of other Tuareg varieties, however, no grammatical overview of Ayer Tuareg has been available until now, except of a short sketch by Lionel Galand. Ayer Tuareg features a restricted height-based vowel harmony system, extended apophonic systems, both in verb and in noun morphology, as well as many interesting features in syntax.
This grammatical sketch aims at introducing the structures of Ayer Tuareg to an audience with or without previous knowledge of Berber languages. As such, it should be interesting to typologists and students of Afroasiatic linguistics in general. It provides an introduction to the linguistic study of Tuareg in general, both by explaining the basic analyses proposed for certain features and by providing comparative material from other Tuareg dialects. It is hoped that, with this tool, it will be easier for those interested in Ayer Tuareg to use textual and lexicographical material.
Under these links you will find publications by the author, as well as descriptions of the history, the cultures and Berber languages of the Niger:
