Asymmetric inflection in Berber The view from gender

In Tashlhiyt Berber nouns, grammatical gender is usually expressed on both edges of the noun by the segment /t/. However, at the right edge, there is another, more minor pattern: many grammatically feminine nouns end in a vowel. The regular realization involves a final /t/ associated to a suffixal CV unit. Vowel-final feminine nouns are derived when a final stem vowel is associated to the V position of the suffix, block-ing the association of the /t/. This right-edge effect is a minor-image of Bendjaballah's (zon) analysis of the left-edge inflection of vowel-initial stems. The distribution of gen-der marking in loans provides further supports to this analysis.