Inflectional vs. Derivational Morphology in Tagdal: A Mixed Language Carlos M. Benítez-Torres SIL, International 1. Introduction Tagdal is a Northern Songhay language spoken in northern and central modern-day Niger. There are a total of three Northern Songhay languages (including Tagdal) in Niger and Eastern Mali, and another in southern Algeria: Tagdal and Tadaksahak are spoken by two semi-nomadic Tuareg-Berber tribes (of North African origin), called the Igdalan and the Idaksahak, respectively. Tasawaq, the third Northern Songhay language, is spoken by a sedentary people called the Isawaghan (sometimes called Ingal koyyu—literally, ‘the masters of Ingal’) in two villages of northern Niger: Ingal and Teggida-n- Tesumt (Adamou 1979:53). There is possibly another Northern Songhay language in Niger, Tabarog, spoken by a sedentary people called the Ibarogan. These are socially and economically linked to the Igdalan, though they retain their own ethnic identity. There is a question as to whether Tabarog should be considered a separate language or simply a variety of Tagdal. Rueck and Christiansen (1999), in their survey of Northern Songhay languages in Niger, found a high degree of intelligibility between Tagdal and Tabarog. 1 They suggested that these two are likely varieties of the same language. Therefore, for the purposes of this paper, Tabarog and Tagdal are considered the same language. 2 1 Between 88 and 93 percent on Recorded Text Test mean scores. 2 In my personal contacts with Ibarogan in Niger, I have also found a high degree of intelligibility between Tagdal and Tabarog. The Ibarogan and Igdalan themselves consider their speech varieties simply “accents” of the same language. Approximate locations of NS languages in Niger and Mali Tadaksahak Tagdal Tasawaq © 2009 Carlos M. Benítez-Torres. Selected Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. Masangu Matondo et al., 69-83. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.