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MADURESE LANGUAGE MORPHOLOGY

Ahmad Faiz

English Department, Post-graduate Program, State University of Malang,

Malang, East Java, Indonesia

e-mail: vaiz_daviqi@live.com

Abstract:

Madurese language has similarities with other languages in Indonesia such as

Sundanese language, Bahasa Indonesia, and Balinese language in term of

morphology. This paper endeavors describing morphological processes in Madurese

Language. However, the author fails to retrieve adequate sources discussing the

morphology of Madurese Language. The only source the author found is a book

written by William D. Davies in 2010. Thus, the author uses his knowledge in

describing this issue since Madurese Language is his mother tongue in accordance

with the book aforementioned. The author tries to exhibit that Madurese Language

possesses certain system in building words such as affixation and reduplication. This

is to underpin that Madurese language is just like any other languages which having

many aspects especially in morphology.

Keywords: Morphology, affixation, derivation, inflection, and reduplication.

PREAMBLE

Madurese is a member of the Malayo-Sumbawan subgroup of the Western

Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family Western Malayo-

Polynesian includes some five hundreds languages of western Indonesia, the

Philippines, and the Malagasy language of Madagascar. On the basis of lexical

and phonological evidence, it has been determined that Madurese is most closely

related to Sundanese, Balinese, Malay/Indonesian, Sasak, Sumbawa, and Chadic,

which is evident its morphology and syntax as well (Gray, Drummond and

Greenhill, 2009).

Madurese language has been invading all over Java especially East Java.

This is probably due to the population movement of Madurese people out of

Madura Island. Thus, many people in Java are able to express their idea in

Madurese Language as fluently as those of the native. Although their parents are

not the native Madurese, they can speak it very fluently because of the neighbors

and environment influence. Further, there is a long history of Madurese people

immigrating to other areas of Indonesia, particularly East Java, where agricultural

conditions and other economic opportunities were markedly superior, resulting in

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large, permanent populations in such cities as Besuki, Situbundo, Probolinggo,

Jember, Surabaya, and elsewhere. As of 2000, roughly 3.5 million Madurese live

on Madura itself, meaning that there sizable population of Madurese-speaking

people living in East Java and other areas of Indonesia, including significant

populations on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra (Davies, 2010:1-2).

Besides, it is not hard to find Madurese people living in the capital city of

Indonesia, Jakarta as well as the western part of Java.

DIALECTS IN MADURESE LANGUAGE

The Madurese Language itself virtually has three intelligible dialects spoken

by Madurese. The first dialect is practiced in Bangkalan Regency. This dialect is

called Western dialect. Speakers of the Western dialect tend to characterize

themselves as very straightforward and direct, saying what is on their minds

without equivocation (in a way reflecting what some outsiders say of the

Madurese in general). They characterize their speech as more clipped and spoken

at a high pitch. Whereas, Eastern Madurese are considered softer spoken and

refined, given more to indirectness. The second is Central Dialect spoken by the

native in Pamekasan Regency. This is the most standard dialect used in Madurese

Language. Further, it is taught at the SD (elementary school), and at the SMP

(Junior High School). While the last dialect is practiced in Sumenep Regency as

called Eastern Dialect. The Eastern dialect is the recognized standard, the

Madurese spoken in the regency of Sumenep, where the principle palace of the

Majapahit era and earlier ‘dynasties’ is located. The attitude regarding the prestige

dialect is widely held, even among the people of other dialect areas.

Like neighboring language, Javanese language, there are classifications of

Madurese Language. The classifications itself display the stratification or level of

language users. The language of “enja’ iya” which is used among friends, relative,

and the elder people to the younger ones is considered the low level. The second

level, the language of “engghi enten”, is said to be the mid-level which is used

among children when it is the first time for them to learn the language and to

practice with people as they think they are getting more mature. This kind of level

is also used between the head village to his staffs, a rich farmer to his workers,

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parents to their son-in-law, and the boss of fisherman to his workers. While the

last level of Madurese Language is “enggi bunten”. This is the highest level in

Madurese language, therefore, this is also called “alos tengghi” which means high

and polite. This “alos tengghi” is used between young people to the elder ones,

students to their teachers, and a nephew to his uncle. The main purposes of using

the last level is to show the politeness, and to appreciate and respect each other.

The author of this paper tries to analyze the morphological process of

Madurese language. Since there is no standard in analyzing this issue in Madurese

textbooks available in the stores, the author who his mother tongue is Madurese

language uses his own style combining with the style taken from a book entitled A

Grammar of Madurese written by William D. Davies in 2010. By the end of this

paper, the author endeavors to exhibit some process in Madurese language

morphology. The following paragraphs will briefly show how words in Madurese

language are undergone the processes of morphology. Note that examples are

taken from the Central Dialect since this kind of dialect is the dialect the author

uses every day.

MORPHOLOGICAL PROCESS IN MADURESE LANGUAGE

In Madurese language, there are two major morphological processes. They

are affixation and reduplication. The major affixes and reduplication are

enumerated and illustrated in the following paragraphs respectively.

1. Affixation

Unlike English, Madurese affixation includes prefixes, suffixes, circumfixes, and

very limited infixation. The followings are selected examples taken from affixes

(prefix, suffix, circumfix, and infix) commonly used in Madure language.

a) Prefix

The prefix –ng, and its morphological variants, signals actor voice or

active voice verbs. It is used when the actor is the subject of the sentence.

It is affixed directly to verb roots, as in:

root actor voice

énom ‘to drink’ ngénom

kérém ‘to send’ ngérém

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téggu ‘to watch’ néggu

When –ng is affixed to roots denoting instruments, the resulting verbs

means ‘to use the instruments’

root actor voice

aré’ ‘scythe’ ngaré’ ‘to cut with a scythe’

pacol ‘hoe’ macol ‘to hoe’

kaca ‘glass, mirror’ ngaca ‘to look at a mirror’

The prefix –é can be affixed to signal than an object has been selected as

subject. This is can be inferred as passives.

root object voice

berri’ ‘to give’ éberri’ ‘be given’

kérém ‘to send’ ékérém ‘be sent’

tolés ‘to write’ étolés ‘be written’

b) Suffix

Many of the morphemes are multifunctional meaning that the same

phonological sequence can affix to various parts of speech, and sometimes

the effect of the stem are quite distinct. A crystal clear example of this is

the suffix –an. Depending on the stem to which is affixed, –an can derive

nouns or adverbs or inflect verbs or adjectives. For instance, when suffixed

to a verbal stem, the output can be a nominal, as in:

kakan ‘to eat’ kakanan ‘food’

tolés ‘to write’ tolésan ‘writing’

When suffixed to a verbal stem, the result can be a verb indicating

frequent, habitual, or repeated action.

baca ‘to read’ macaan ‘read frequently, like to read’

molé ‘to go home’ moléyan ‘to go home often’

When suffixed to certain nouns and adjectives, the result is a derived

adverbs, as in:

bulan ‘month’ bulanan ‘monthly’

laon ‘slow’ laonan ‘slowly’

duli ‘quick’ duliyan ‘quickly’

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c) Circumfix

Like Bahasa Indonesia, Madurese language also possesses circumfix.

Examples of circumfix in Madurese language is the circumfix ka-...-an

applied to some verbs derives a verb which unpleasantly affects an

experiencer, which is the subject.

semprot ‘spray’ kasemprodan ‘get sprayed with’

gaggar ‘fall’ kagaggaran ‘suffer having something get

fallen on’

robbu ‘collapse’ karobbuwan ‘suffer having something

collapse’

maso' ‘enter’ kamaso'an ‘have something get entered’

Also, this circumfix ka-...-an can derive nouns. With many verbs and

adjectives, the result of affixing ka-...-an is an abstract nominal.

badha ‘exist’ kabadha’an ‘existence’

toron ‘descend’ katoronan ‘descendants’

daddi ‘occur’ kadaddiyan ‘occurrence’

bagus ‘good’ kabagusan ‘goodness’

sossa ‘sad’ kasossa’an ‘sadness’

penter ‘smart’ kapenterran ‘intelligence’

This kind of circumfix can also derive locative nouns that denote a place

where a noun belongs or a place for doing the action of the verb.

camat ‘district head’ kacamadan ‘district’

rato ‘king’ karatowan/kraton ‘palace’

raja ‘king’ karaja’an ‘kingdom’

tedhung ‘sleep’ katedhungan ‘place to sleep/bed’

toju’ ‘sit’ katoju’an ‘place to sit/chair’

d) Infix

Madurese contains a very small number of infixes, which are not

productive and appear to be vestiges of an earlier stage of the language

(Davies, 2010:119). The infix –al- occurs with verb stems and adjective

stems.

jimet ‘quiet’ jalimet ‘very quiet’

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cémot ‘dark, dim’ calémot ‘very dark, dim’

gattong ‘hang’ galattong ‘clothes peg/hook’

The infix –am- is a nominalizing affix that occurs with some verb roots.

penta ‘ask’ pamenta ‘request/question’

poji ‘to praise’ pamoji ‘praise’

parenta ‘to command’ pamarenta ‘government’

The infix -ar- is used in the derivation ofadjectives and nouns but has no

consistent identifiable function (Davies, 2010:119).

kettek ‘heart beat’ karettek ‘annoyed’

keddhap ‘shine’ kareddhap ‘flickering’

2. Reduplication

Reduplication is a distinctive feature is Madurese language that differs it from

other languages. This also makes this language unique and makes Madurese

people are easy to recognize due to frequent use of reduplication. According to

Davies (2010:129), reduplication, the copying of all or part of a word as an affix

to a stem, is a notable morphological process in Madurese, a characteristic it

shares with other Austronesian languages. Madurese exhibits three basic types of

reduplication: final-syllable reduplication, whole-word reduplication, and initial-

syllable reduplication. In the following paragraphs, each type of reduplication and

its interaction with other affixes is exemplified and the meanings denoted by

reduplication are detailed.

a) Final-syllable reduplication

Far and away the most prevalent reduplication process is final-syllable

reduplication. This kind of reduplication that occurs in nouns may indicate

either simple plurality or some notion plurality. Look at these examples:

buku ‘book’ ku-buku ‘books’

labang ‘door’ bang-labang ‘doors’

mored ‘student’ red-mored ‘students’

sorat ‘letter’ rat-sorat ‘letters’

ka-toron-an ‘progeny’ ron-katoronan ‘descendents’

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b) Whole-word reduplication

The second most common type of reduplication is whole-word

reduplication. Some use of this process may be the influence of Bahasa

Indonesia. Whole-word reduplication in natural speech is used primarily

with nouns. This kind of reduplication may also indicate plurality as

shown by final-syllable reduplication.

kebun ‘animal’ kebun-kebun ‘animals’

keban ‘animal’ keban-keban ‘animals’

oreng ‘person’ oreng-oreng ‘people’

massa’an ‘food/dish’ massa’an-massa’an ‘dishes’

kraton ‘palace’ kraton-kraton ‘palaces’

c) Initial-syllable reduplication

This kind of reduplication is the least common of the reduplication

processes. In initial-syllable reduplication, the initial syllable of the root is

copied. This kind of reduplication functions as emphasis of the stems.

dhuwa’ ‘two’ dhu-dhuwa’ ‘two’

pongaba ‘staff person’ po-pongaba ‘staff persons’

Davies (2010:131) adds one more kind of reduplication that is Ca

reduplication. This kind of reduplication along with the initial-syllable

reduplication comprise the least frequent reduplication used in Madurese.

In Ca reduplication, the initial consonant of the root is copied into a

syllable with the vowel a and the result is affixed to the beginning of the

root. The factions of this reduplication may indicate emphasizing the

stems, plurality, or derive nouns from verbs. The examples are;

tolong ‘help’ ta-tolong ‘help’

buruk ‘advise’ ba-buruk ‘advises (PL)’

balasan ‘reply (V)’ ba-balasan ‘reply (N)’

becce’an ‘good’ ba-becce'an ‘goods’

lema’ ‘five’ la-lema’ ‘five’

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CLOSING

Those are the selected examples of how words in Madurese language

undergo the process of morphology. Like other languages, Madurese language

also possesses certain process of how words are constructed to make new words

used for different purposes by its speakers. Of course, the examples

aforementioned are insufficient to describe the whole things. However, the author

expects that this piece of work can ignite readers who want to go deeper into

studying Madurese language especially in term of its morphology.

REFERENCES

Davies, W.D. 2010. A Grammar of Madurese. Göttingen: Walter de Gruyter

Gray, R.D., Drummond, A.J., and Greenhill, S.J. 2009. Language phylogenies

reveal expansion pulses and pauses in Pacific settlement. Science 323:

279-483