ISMIL 7  Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 27-29 June 2003  |  ISMIL Home  
Front Page Overview Call for Abstracts Programme Presenters Venue Getting There
On understanding "bare verb" constructions in informal Indonesian
Bambang Kaswanti Purwo
Atma Jaya Catholic University

The paper is an attempt to describe the "bare verb" constructions in informal Indonesian, as exemplified by the data below (taken from a transcribed natural conversation).

Gua denger lu buka toko? Dulu Yuli pernah cerita, tapi gua belum kenal elu, kan, waktu itu? ' I heard you opened up a store. Yuli told me some time ago, but I didn't know you at that time, right?'

The first verb is to be distinguished from the other three in that the first is also "bare verb" in formal Indonesian (gua denger -> saya dengar), while the three are prefixed verbs:

   lu buka -> kamu membuka
   pernah cerita -> pernah bercerita
   kenal elu -> mengenal kamu

It is also possible for gua denger to be a prefixed verb (i.e. saya mendengar) and kenal elu as a bare verb (i.e. kenal) in a context other than the one quoted above . Potentially, in formal Indonesian, verbs like dengar and kenal may have three verb forms (meN-, di- and zero prefix), verbs like buka may have four (meN-, di-, zero prefix, and affixless (like pergi 'go', jatuh 'fall')), and verbs like cerita only have one form (i.e. ber-). The present paper, in describing the bare verbs, does not only take into account the related verb forms, but also the lexical semantics, syntax, and intonation.

Page location: https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/archive/ismil/7/abstracts/bambang.html
Page last modified: 5 May 2003