Action Nouns in Zenaga Berber of Mauritania

The so-called “action” nouns constitute a subcategory of nominals. Any non-passive verb potentially has in Berber an action noun that denotes the relevant action or state in an unbounded fashion (“the fact/action of X-ing”). The action noun’s meaning is largely predictable, but its pattern tends to vary depending on verbal stem, especially in the case of light verbs. While ANs seem to be used in almost all varieties of Berber, a detailed description is not often available. I propose here to complete the study started in 2012 on the formation of ANs in Zenaga Berber. In the first part (2.), I inventory the different vowel patterns found, in relation to the gender of the AN and the properties of the verbs (semantics and/or bi- vs. plurisyllabic form). In the next part (3.) I analyze all the characteristics of the AN, in particular from the point of view of the root (gemination vs. de-gemination, realization of certain radicals and of the feminine suffix) and in relation to the verbal patterns.