A templatic approach to gemination in the imperfective stem of Tashlhiyt Berber
Mohamed Lahrouchi
direct link: http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004416
March 2007
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 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-, b
i- and monoconsonantal verbs share the same template. The sur- face irregularity that bi- and monoconsonantal verbs display is viewed as the consequence of the identific
ation of templatic positions.