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A Study of sorne Deverbal Action Nouns

in Ayt Mzal Tashelhiyt Berber Within
The Correspondence Theory

Khadija ANASSE
University Ibn Tofail, Faculty of Letters, Kenitra

1 will first present a brief note on the variety under study. Then 1 shall move to
the discussion of the correspondence theory (McCarthy & Prince, 1995; Kager,
1999) which may be considered as an extension of the optimality theory (Prince &
Smolensky, 1993). Finally, 1 shall try to analyze sorne action nouns within this
theory.

1- A Note on the Dialect:

Ayt Mzal Tashelhiyt Berber (AMTB) is one variety of Tashelhiyt Berber. It
belongs to the "Chleuh group" which is limited by the Atlantic Ocean in the West,
by the Draa River in the East and South, and by an "ideal line" going from
Essaouira to the region of Demnat in the North.
The Ayt Mzal tribe is made up by speakers living in the Cada
(administrative circle) of Ayt Baha, which is situated south of Taroundant, and
south east of Agadir, and whose area do es not exceed 20 km'. ln more specifie
terms, Ayt Mzal is surrounded by Tasguedelt in the North, Targantouchka in the
South, Hilala in the East, and Imi mqoum, Sidi Boushab and Ayt Ouadrim in the
West (cf. Anasse, 1994: 27-29).

2- The Correspondence
1999).

Theory (McCarthy

& Prince

The correspondence theory as laid out in McCarthy &Prince,

1999 may be defined as follows:

140

1995, Kager

1995 and Kager,

Structures morphologiques

de l'amazighe

(a) Correspondence:
Given two strings SI and S2, correspondence is a relation R from the
elements of SI to those of S2. Elements aESI and ~ES2 are refered to as
correspondents of one another when aR~.
The Correspondence Theory of faithfulness posits a correspondence
relation R from the input to each of its output candidates. For example, in the
mapping /bat! ~ bati, the candidate bati includes the information that Q, ~, and 1
correspond to segments of the input, but i does not.
Correspondence
Theory provides a general framework for stating
constraints demanding faithfulness to linguistic objects. A candidate is unfaithful
whenever its associated correspondence relation de scribes anything other than an
order- and structure preserving mapping that is one-to-one and onto.
Four major primitive constraints are proposed in the correspondence
framework of McCarthy and Prince (1995). These are as follows:
(A) The MAX family of constraints:
General schema: Every segment of SI has a correspondent in S2.
Specifie Instantiations : MAX-IO : Every segment of the input has a
correspondent in the output (no phonological deletion)
The MAX family of constraints militate against deletion, so every element
ofthe input is in correspondence with the output. The input is maximally expressed
in the output. ln other words, the MAX faithfulness constraints simply require the
material present in the input be present in the output.

(B) The DEP family of constraints :

General schema: Every segment of S2 has a correspondent SI (S2 is
'dependent' on SI).
Specifie Instantiations: DEP-IO: Every segment of the output has a
correspondent in the input (Prohibits Phonological Epenthesis).
The third type of constraints is the IDENT - family, a family of faithfulness
constraints on feature specifications requiring input and output forms to be
identical feature-wise :

(C) The IDENT - Family of Constraints:

General schema: Let a be a segment in SI and ~ be any correspondent of
a in S2. If ais [yF], then ~ is [yF] (correspondent segments are identical in feature
F).

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Structures morphologiques

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Specifie lnstantiations: IDENT-IO (F) : Output correspondents of an input

[yF] segment are also [yF].
The fourth type of correspondence constraints is the ANCHORING
constraints that demands the alignment of the edges of different constituents.

(D) The ANCHORING farnily of constraints :

{Right, Left} - ANCHOR (SI - S2)
Any element at the designated periphery of SI has a correspondent at the
designated periphery of S2.
Let Edge (X, {L, R}) : the element standing at the edge L, R of X.
RIGHT-ANCHOR.

lfx

= Edge (S!, R) and y = Edge (S2,) then x Ry

LEFT-ANCHOR. Likewise, mutatis mutandis.

(McCarthy and Prince, 1995 : 295)
ANCHORING regulates the coincidence of a prosodie edge and a
morphological one, for example. The requirement that the stem, a morphological
constituent, and the prosodie word, a prosodie constituent, be aligned has been
motivated in the literature.
Other constraints are dealt with in McCarthy and Prince (1995 : 296), viz.
LINEARITY, which exc1udes metathesis, and UNIFORMITY and INTEGRITY
which rule out two types of multiple correspondence-coalescence,
where two
elements of SI are fused in S2, and diphtongization or phonologicai copying, where
one element of SI is split or cloned in S2.

3-

Analysis of sorne AMTB Action Nouns

Action nouns are divided into masculine and feminine ones. Masculine action
nouns are process nouns and are called action nouns, and feminine action nouns are
instance or one-time nouns and are called Resultative Nouns. These are c1assified
into three categories: Consonant - Final, Vowel - Final, And Altemating Final
Vowel / Glide Roots.
ln this present analysis, 1 shall assume that the Action Noun morpheme is a
discontinuous one { a- a - }. The first {a} is found initially, while another {a} may
be found either prefinally (e.g. amgar "action of harvesting", or finally (e.g. ana
"action of dividing").
1 will try to analyze sorne consonant final roots

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Structures morphologiques

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A) Consonant- Final Roots

The derivation of Act. Ns from consonant-final roots involves prefixation
of {a} and in sorne cases an accompanying prefinal vowel {a}. Within this
analysis, 1 will list sorne different types of consonant-final verb forms and their
corresponding Act.N's.
Onsetless syllables exist only word-initially onsetless syllables word-initiaIly. The
onset constraint states that syllables must have onsets except word initially.
Different kinds of constraints will be investigated and then ranked with
respect to one another. 1 will also try to visualize the different interactions between
the different constraints on output well-formedness as weIl as the way the
optimality of a given candidate is determined.

1)

Quadriconsonantals
Vowels:

and

Triconsonantals

g8llab
b)wwunzar
rfufan
summar
stutal
c) bukzd
kusam
ssifed

Lexical

Action Noun

Underlying Form
a) bddal
krfss

with

'change'
'ill-treat'
'turn'

a-baddal
a-kerfas
a-gallab

'nosebleed'
'go through'
'hardships'
'stay in the sun'
'crawl'

a-wwunzar
a-rfufan

'be blind'

a-bukzd
a-kusem
a-ssifed

'be crippled'
'send'

a-summer
a-stutsl

As noticed in (1), no change takes place. Only a - is prefixed to the

corresponding form. The correspondence diagram is illustrated as follows:

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Structures morphologiques

(1)

de l'amazighe

Input:
n

Output:

a-

na

q q

q.qar

-a- is not infixed in such a class of nouns.

The MAX-family of constraints which militates against deletion is
respected. Every segment of the input has a correspondent in the output. No
phonological deletion takes place.
Act. Ns which are formed through the prefixation and infixation of {a} are illformed (e.g. *a-baddal, *a-wwunzar, *a-bukaq).
ln AMTB, it is preferable to kep the input (with prefixation of a) rather than to
change the vowel features of a, which is a mid-central unrounded vowel, to a,
which is a low back unrounded vowel. The infixation of -a- which is part of the
Act. N. discontinuous morpheme does not take place in this class of nouns. This
may be better clarified through the following tableau:
2)
/bddl, Act. NI
or 1-

iAct. N. - a -]

IDEN - V (F)

abaddal

2- abddal

*
*!

As noticed, the optimal output violates the lowest ranking constraint, Act. N. -a].
The IDENT -family of faithfulness constraints on feature specifications (here
vowel features) which requires input and output forms to be identical conceming
features is not violated.
With respect to the Anchor-family of constrairus, it is not violated since the
edges of the verb root and the Act.N. coincide. More specifically, the Rigir-Anchor
constraint is respected and it is seen to dominate the constraint AcLN -a - ] through

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Structures morphologiques

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the following tableau:

(3)
/ badd81, Act N./

Right-Anchor

ActN. - a-]

(jf"'l- abddl

2- abddal

*!

For quadriconsonantals, we may deduce the following ranking: IDENT-V (F)

(V= Vowel, F= Features Right-Anchor ActN. -a-]. The optimal candidate
violates the lowest ranking constraint (i.e. Act
N.-a- D.
The same ranking is adequate for triconsonantals with lexical vowels (e.g.
wwunzr /awwunzr).
11- Triconsonantals

Action Noun

Underlying Form
a)

b)

ksm

'enter'

a- ksam

zdy

'dwell'

a - zday

fam
k8rz

'sort out'
'plough'

a - fran
a- kraz

It is noticed in this class of Act. Ns that the latter are formed by the
prefixation of a - and infixation of - a - prefinally.
Triconsonantals in (lIa) are different from those in (IIb). ln (lIa), the schwa
appears before the last segment, while in (II b), it appears after the first segment.
The schwa actually appears before the most sonorous segment.
The second difference between the two sets (II.a) and (II.b) is that, in (lIa)
the imperfective is formed by geminating the second segment (i.e. ksarnl k8ss8m),
while in (lIb) the imperfective is obtained by geminating the first one (i.e. fam /

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Structures morphologiques

de l'amazighe

ffrn).
However, when forming the Act. N., they both infix - a - before the last
segment.
The correspondence diagram is illustrated as follows:

(4)
k

Input

Output

a- k

s a

Js

As noticed, a changes to a (which is Act. N -a -]

IDENT - V (F) is violated in the examples in ILa. Violation arises since [a]
which appears in the output corresponds to [ a ] in the input, and both segments
have conflicting values (a is low back unrounded, and a is mid-central unrounded).
This may be shown through the following tableau:

(5)
Ik

s a m, Act. NI

Act. N - a-]

Crl- aksam
2- aksm

IDEN - V (F)
*

*!

The optimal candidate violates the IDEN-V'(F) constraint.

In (II.b), the analysis is based on the idea that the final syllable of the Act. N.
has to be heavy. ln the case of afran, the epenthesis of -a - is one way of achieving
final syllable heavy weight. For such items, the constraints FINAL REA VY
SYLLABLE CONSTRAINT allll] is adopted:
This constraint will rule out as ill-formed any derived Act. N. that does not end
in a heavy syllable. ln the case of a-frarr. the faithful candidate *a-fam, is illformed since it does not end in a heavy syllable. Besides, "afran leads to syllable
violation. No ca is permitted in AMTB.
Epenthesis of -a- is triggered by the need to satisfy 611 Il]. The MAX-V
constraint prohibits deletion. This may be shown in the following:

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Structures morphologiques

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(6)
1 fDm (Act. N) 1
C'

61l1l

MAX

Remarks

Deletion of

1- a-fran

2- a-fran

Faithful

The faithful candidate violates the internaI syllable structure of AMTB. *ca
syllables are prohibited in AMTB.
For items such as afran, the Final Heavy Syllable Constraint 6 Illl] dominates
the constraint *6 [Ca]. This may be shown in the following tableau:

/7)
I/f a rn, Act. NI
C'

61lfJ.]

*6

[Ca]

MAX-V

l-afran

2- a fara n

*!

To satisfy [Ca] is to simply delete one of the input segments la 1. ln this case,
the deletion of the lai would yield the output [a fr a n], for instance, where *6 [Ca]
would be satisfied since the [a] is no longer present. However, such a deletion
would violate the correspondence constraint MAX-IO which states that input
segments must have output correspondents. Besides, the faithful candidate *a- fa r
n scores worse that the well-formed output a-fran. ~a
r n actually violates the
*COMPLEX CONSTRAINT which prohibits the branching of syllable nodes. This
may be shown in (8):

(8)
1 frn, (Act.
N)I
C'

* COMPLEX

6ilfJ.]

l-afran
2- a fDm

MAX-V
*

*!

*!*

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Structures morphologiques

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The optimal candidate violates the lowest ranking constraint MAXV owel.
Unlike quadriconsonantals and triconsonantals with lexical vowels discussed
earlier in (I) where in the Right-Anchor Constraint is respected in the derived Act.
Ns, triconsonantals such as ksm 1 aksam, fml a f r a n, violate such a constraint
since the right edge of the verb form and that of its corresponding Act. N do not
coincide.

111-Biconsonantals and Biconsonantals with Initial Lexical Vowels:

Underlying Form
a) g an
fal
b) d a r
yaz
c)a q n
amz

Action Noun
'sleep
'leave'
'fall down'
'dig'
'be ill'
'take'

aggan
affaI
attar
aqqaz
agan
ammaz

As noticed from the examples above, the initial root consonant in (III a - c)
gets geminated in order to fit the prosodie template [6111161111l Both syllables
should be heavy (i.e. VC. CVC). * agan, for example, is ill-formed.
The following tableau will c1arify this:

(9)
Ign, Act.N 1

1- aggan
2- agan

61111]

[61111

IDENT-V (F)
*

*!

The epenthesis of g actually ends up in gemination which takes place through

leftward spreading (cf. McCarthy, 1986).
For d r 1 a- ttar, it is noticed that the gemination of d ends up with n. ln other
words, when d gets gerninated, devoicing takes place.
The underlying voice feature is lost in the output. The IDENT - family of
constraints is therefore violated.
Violation arises since [t] a voiceless segment in the output corresponds
with a voiced segment Id! in the input, and both segments have conflicting values
for voice.

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Structures morphologiques

de l'amazighe

ln AMTB, many derived nouns reveal the fact that the gemination of two
d's automatically leads to devoicing (tt), This may be considered as a phonetic
process.
For 'yaz', the derived Act.N. is not * [ayyaz], but [aqqaz]. lnstead of[yy], [qq] is
phonetically realized. This results from the occ1usivization rule (Elmedlaoui, 1985 :
138).
ln 'ammaz ' and 'attan', the status of the initial vowel is problematic. Is it a
prefix or is it lexical (i.e. part of the root)?
It may be said that the initial lexical vowel blocks the prefixation of aj- , and
another - ar is infixed as a copy of the initial underlying vowel la 1. ln other
words, the copying process results in the appearance of two a's in the phonetic
form, and takes place from left to right.
*[ a.ammaz] and [ a.attan] are il1 -formed in AMTB since it is not allowed to
have an onset less syllable internally. This is shown in the following:

(10)
1 az, Act.NI
cs= 1-

Onset

Act.N.-a-]

6flfl]

ammaz

2- a-ammaz.

*1

[6flfl

IDENT.V(F)
*
*

As noticed, the constraints are ranked in the following form:

Onset Act.N-a-a] 6flfl ] IDENT-V).
ln this analysis, 1 have tried to analyze sorne action nouns which correspond to
consonant - final roots. The coincidence of the final roots underlying material with
the material contained in the action noun shows that the two elements should be
right anchored.
For quadriconsonantals and triconsonantals with one or two lexical vowels, a-is
prefixed to get the action nouns (e.g. bddl, kusm/akusm). in other words,
IDEN-V(F) constraint dominates the Act.N-a-] Constraint.
As concerns triconsonantals roots, two a's are affixed to end up with correct
action nouns. One is prefixed initially, while the other one is infixed prefinally (e.g.
ksm/aksarn}. The Finally Heavy Syllable constraint dominates the Max-V.

REFERENCES
Anasse, K (1994). A Study of Deverbal Nominals in Ayt Mzal Tashelhiyt
Berber - A Non- Concatenative Approach. Third Cycle Thesis,
Mohammed V University, Faculty of Letters, Rabat.

149

Structures morphologiques

de l'amazighe

Elmedlaoui, M (1988). De la Gmination, LOAPLI, 117-156.

Kager, R (1999). Optimality Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McCarthy, J.J. (1986). OCP effects:
Linguistic Inquiry 4: 207-263.

Gemination

and

Antigemination.

McCarthy, J.J.and A. Prince (1995). Faithfulness and Reduplicative Identity.

University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics 18:
Papers in Optimality Theory. (Rutgers Optimality Archive # 60).
Prince and Smolensky (1993). Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in
Generative Grammar. Ms Rutgers University and University of
Colorado at Boulder.

150