Abstract
In many Berber varieties, causative and reciprocal verbs are built by means of monoconsonantal prefixes attached to a stem. These prefixes are realized as single or geminated depending on the properties of the stem. In this paper, it is argued that an initial templatic site is responsible for the length variation of the prefixes. Under specific licensing conditions, the initial site hosts the causative and the reciprocal prefixes by means of two distinct operations, namely movement and spreading. Moreover, complex combinations of those prefixes (causative + reciprocal, reciprocal + causative) feed apparently unrelated phenomena of selective harmony and dissimilation. They are argued to follow directly from the use of the initial site as part of the verb domain. Handled in syntactic structure, the initial site further allows accounting for the cooccurrence restrictions that the causative and the imperfective markers undergo: it is proposed that the causative takes precedence over the imperfective because it is generated lower in the structure under the vP. The same reasoning holds for the incompatibility of imperfective gemination with the reciprocal marker. It is precisely this type of restrictions that strictly phonological analyses fail to address.
Highlights
In Berber, the causative and the reciprocal prefixes are realized as single or geminated depending on the properties of the verb
In light of these facts, one can suggest that sibilant harmony and labial dissimilation operate within a specific domain, of which the causative and the reciprocal prefixes are not part when they occur in the outer position
8 Conclusion The typology put forth in Lowenstamm (1999) distinguishes two types of languages: (i) type I languages such as French where the initial CV is always licensed and used as a cliticisation site, and (ii) type II languages such as Hebrew where the initial site is not always licensed but where a uniformity convention allows using it as if it is always unlicensed
Summary
In Berber, the causative and the reciprocal prefixes are realized as single or geminated depending on the properties of the verb. The distribution of vowels in the verb appears to play an important role in the choice of the prefix variant: verbs beginning with a CV sequence select the simplex variant of the prefix, while those that begin with two consonants take the geminated variant. Complex combinations of these prefixes result in forms where only the inner prefix varies in length. As shown in the examples in (2), the causative prefix remains simplex, while the reciprocal prefix surfaces as single or geminated Enough, these verbs are restricted in the way they form their imperfective.
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