Allomorphy of the anticausative marker and the verbal left-edge in Taqbaylit

International audience This paper addresses the issue of allomorphy of the anticausative prefix /n-/ in light of the verbal left-edge in Taqbaylit. This prefix is in fact an independent morpheme in Taqbaylit although it has been considered in the Berber literature to be an allomorph of /m-/ when combined with a stem containing a labial consonant (Bensoukas, 2014; Boukous, 2009; Chaker, 1995; Elmedlaoui, 2012; Idrissi, 2001; Kossmann, 2007; a.o.). The aim is to study the underlying representation and the surface allomorphy of this prefix, which has two phonetic realizations: a simplex [n] and a geminate [nn]. Indeed, it is realized as a geminate in _CC contexts and as a simplex in _CV contexts. However, when it is combined with the causative prefix /s-/, it surfaces only as a simplex regardless of its right-context. I will analyze the status of this prefix within Strict CV phonology (Lowenstamm, 1996, 1999; Scheer, 2004) and show that (i) /n-/ is a simplex floating morpheme and (ii) its surface form depends on both Licensing and a templatic property of the left-edge of the verb. This implies, as it will be shown, that the verbal left-edge in Taqbaylit is composed of two CV units, each hosting its own morphemes.