The Use of the Bare Aorist in Figuig Berber (Eastern Morocco)

This article studies the use of the Bare Aorist in the Berber variety of Figuig, an oasis at the border of Morocco and Algeria. Like eslsewhere in Berber, the Bare Aorist is used as a form that is neutral as to aspect, whose interpretation is provided by context. It is shown that the major types of occurrence that were established for other varieties (Mauri 2017) are also represented in Figuig Bare Aorists. Framed Aorists are found in main clauses that are preceded by a temporal/aspectual clause that provides the framing for its aspectual interpretation. With Chained Aorists, the framing is provided by verbs in preceding main clauses. It is shown, however, that Chained Aorists are subtly different in Figuig from the way they have been described for other varieties, as they mainly occur to express continuity at points where such a continuity is less expected.