Abstract This paper provides a unifying, Optimality-Theoretic analysis of subtractive morphology and morphological gemination in Moroccan Amazigh (Berber) and Arabic. I start with a Morpheme Realization and Anti-faithfulness account of subtraction and a floating mora affixation account of gemination. Then, I provide a preliminary, unifying analysis of both phenomena based on the floating mora approach of Generalized Mora Affixation ( GMA ), which extends naturally to facts of other Afro-asiatic languages. I also show how the analysis explains an intricate case involving subtraction and gemination occurring in tandem. Unifying though the GMA approach is, residual issues in the morphology of Amazigh are a serious contender. The proponents of GMA defend “pivot affixation” and criticize “phonological affix dislocation” for its allowing variable infixation. The gemination vs. tt-prefixation facet of the Amazigh intensive aorist allomorphy is a clear case of variable infixation which seems to require a weaker version of the “pivot affixation” approach.
Karim Bensoukas (Mon,) studied this question.