Reduplication in Indonesian Language

REDUPLICATION IN BAHASA INDONESIA Background Morphology is the study of word formation, including the ways new words are coined in the languages of the world, and the way forms of words are varied depending on how they’re used in sentence. Word formation process like prefixation, suffixation, compounding, and conversion may be the main ways of forming new words in English and many other languages, but there’s a much wider world out there, and there are types of morphology that do not figure in English at all, or figure only in the most minor ways. Therefore, in this article, I would like to discuss about reduplication, type of rules of word formation that can be used in forming new lexemes in the languages of the world. Reduplication is a morphological process in which all or part of the base is repeated. Commonly, there are two types of reduplication; full reduplication and partial reduplication. Full reduplication is a process by which an entire base is repeated, while partial reduplication is a process in which only part of the base is repeated. e.g.: a. Hausa (Newman 2000: 42), Full Reduplication bāya ‘behind’ gàba ‘forward’ ƙasà ‘below’

bāya bāya ‘a bit behind’ gàba gàba ‘a bit forward’ ƙasà ƙasà ‘a bit below’

Samoan (Mosel and Hovdhaugen 1992: 223), Partial Reduplication lafo ‘plot of land’ lago ‘pillow, bolster’ pine ‘pin, peg’

lalafo ‘clear land’ lalago ‘rest, keep steady’ pipine ‘secure with pegs’

In order to ease my research on reduplication, I take Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) as my research subject. It is the national language of Indonesia, a country consisting of a group of islands in South East Asia. Most people living there speak and practice this language. Indonesian has three types of reduplication: partial, imitative and full reduplication (Sneddon, 1996). Indonesian applies reduplication in the daily life language. The

reduplication is used in many grammatical aspects like plural words, proper noun, repeated activity, etc. Due to the fact that the most common reduplication word in Indonesia is full reduplication; therefore the raised topic for my research is full reduplication. There are many verbal forms using reduplication; however phonology is a necessity to be involved in the analysis. I attempt to limit my research only on morphology field and as the result most of the reduplication words are in word class ‘noun’. In this research I would like to analyze how reduplication is able to change the word semantically or grammatically. I also try to relate the relation or influence from affixation; prefix and suffix toward the words they attach. Reduplication in Bahasa Indonesia, as I have stated, is used in daily language. If English have restricted number of reduplication, in the contrary Indonesian has a lot of it. It is used in kinds of word class like noun, verb, adjective, and adverb, and also in a lot of expression. Those reduplication words may have a lot meaning whether or not being attached by the affix. The plenty reduplication word in Indonesia leads me to be interested in analyzing it.

Analysist 1. Hewan-hewan Hewan-hewan (animals) is the plural form of hewan (animal). This is kind of full reduplication by which the first word is copied and attached to the behind of the first word. The reduplication rule in this word does not change the part of speech of the first word. The word ‘hewan’ is noun, and when it becomes ‘hewan-hewan’, the part of speech does not change; still noun. 2. Mata-mata The word ‘mata-mata’ may have 2 meanings. The first meaning is the plural form of the word ‘mata’ (eye), so it means ‘eyes’. In the other hand, the word ‘mata-mata’ also could mean ‘spy’. This kind of reduplication which is rather similar with compounding noun because we cannot separate the first and the second ‘mata’ due to the fact that they are probably different in meaning between the single form (‘mata’ means ‘eye’) and the compounded form (‘mata-mata’ means ‘spy’). In addition, in Indonesian language commonly reduplication is used to indicate the plural form. However, in this case to pluralize the word ‘spy’ (mata-mata) into ‘spies’ we cannot

use ‘mata-mata-mata-mata’. Using the adverb of amount is preferable to pluralize the word that is already a reduplication which is singular. 3. Sayur mayur Different with number 1 and 2, Sayur mayur (various vegetables) is full reduplication but not absolute reduplication. Let’s see the second word. It copies the whole of the first word (Sayur) but change the first consonant‘s’ in Sayur becomes ‘m’ in mayur. Regardless of its difference with other, still both the first word ‘sayur’ and ‘sayur mayur’ are still same in their part of speech as noun. 4. Hujan-hujan vs hujan-hujanan The word ‘hujan-hujan’ does not represent the plural meaning of hujan (rain). Instead of having the meaning ‘rains’, the word ‘hujan-hujan’ means ‘even though it is raining’ and also ‘if it is raining’. The part of speech is different. Based on the English translation the part of speech is changing from noun into a complete phrase (sentence), but actually in Indonesian language it changes to adverb. The adding of affix in Indonesian language, like English, might change the part of speech in a word. The word ‘hujan-hujanan’ is different with ‘hujan-hujan’. ‘hujan-hujan’ means ‘even though it is raining’ or ‘if it is raining’, in the contrary ‘hujan-hujanan’ means ‘playing with rain’. The part of speech of this word is verb. 5. Suka duka Suka duka (happiness and sadness) is kind of repetition word that is usually used as an expression like willy-nilly in English. The word ‘suka duka’ is not total reduplication because the second word, duka, are different from ‘suka’ because it changes ‘s’ in ‘suka’ into ‘d’ in ‘duka’. Indonesian language also commonly uses reduplication words to express two contrasting thing. Suka (happiness) and duka (sadness) are two different things. They are combined then construct a new single word; suka duka. However, those two combined words contain a conjunction ‘and’ even it is not stated in the word ‘suka duka’. The part of speech between ‘suka’ and ‘suka duka’ is same; noun.

6. Gado-Gado Gado-gado (Indonesian food containing vegetable and peanut sauce) applies reduplication rule. The single ‘gado’ does not represent any meaning unless being reduplicated into ‘gado-gado’. ‘Gado-gado’ is a proper noun therefore we cannot separate or divide it into a single word ‘gado’. 7. Mudah-mudah vs mudah-mudahan The base of the word ‘mudah-mudah’ and ‘mudah-mudahan’ is same, ‘mudah’ (easy). Nevertheless, those two words are different both semantically and grammatically. ‘mudahmudah’, even though its base ‘mudah’ (easy) is an adjective, surely it is not the plural form of adjective because singular-plural is for noun. However, ‘mudah-mudah’ describes adjective ‘easy’ for plural things that are easy. We can compare between the using of expression below: 1.1 Putri pak Suman cantik-cantik: Mr. Suman’s daughters are beautiful. 2.1 Lia cantik: Lia is beautiful. We can compare the underlined word in 1.1 with 2.1. The adjective ‘cantik-cantik’ is given to the plural subject, while the adjective ‘cantik’ is given to the singular subject. The word ‘cantikcantik’ (beautiful) is reduplication even it’s not a noun. Why is it reduplicated? That is what commonly happens in Indonesia. Instead of repeating the noun ‘putri’ (daughter) into ‘putriputri’ (daughters), Indonesian language reduplicates the adjective ‘cantik’ into ‘cantik-cantik’. The next is the word ‘mudah-mudahan’. The affix –an lead to the difference of meaning between ‘mudah-mudah’ and ‘mudah-mudahan’. The meaning of ‘mudah-mudah’ is ‘easy’, meanwhile ‘mudah-mudahan’ is ‘hopefully’. As we see in their English translation form, the part of speech of them is different. The word ‘mudah-mudah’ is an adjective and ‘mudah-mudahan’ is adverb. 8. Pukul-pukulan vs pukul memukul vs memukul-mukul Pukul-pukulan, pukul memukul, and memukul-mukul have the same root ‘pukul’ (hit). Pukulpukulan is a full reduplication. The root is the word ‘pukul’. Actually there is no any part of speech for the word ‘pukul’, but this word is the root for the affixation. Then, it is reduplicated becoming pukul-pukul (no meaning for this word) thus, suffix –an is added. Finally it becomes

pukul-pukulan. It means as an acting of hitting but not really hitting. Therefore ‘pukul-pukulan’ is a noun. The second word ‘pukul-memukul’ is a full reduplication actually, but the form looks different because in the second word ‘memukul’, it is ‘pukul’ that is added prefix me-. This prefix is used to indicate an active verb. The word ‘pukul-memukul’ means ‘hit each other’. Semantically, ‘pukul’ is an acting of hitting that was done by someone and ‘memukul’ is an activity of hitting back. The part of speech of ‘pukul memukul’ is verb. Thirdly, ‘memukul-mukul is reduplication. However, it is slightly different with the first and the second word. In ‘pukul-pukulan’ and ‘pukul memukul’ the reduplication was taken from the root of word, however, the next attached word in ‘memukul-mukul’ was not taken from the root. It copies the word that was already given affixation and does not copy the whole word; ignore the affix me-. That is why the attached word is ‘mukul’. Furthermore, the meaning of ‘memukulmukul’ is ‘frequently hit’. The word class of it is verb. 9. Kadang-kadang Kadang-kadang (sometimes) will be the last analyzed Indonesian reduplication context in this paper. ‘Kadang-kadang’ is an adverb. It is a total reduplication word and it makes no sense between the single word ‘kadang’ and the double word ‘kadang-kadang’. Both of them have the same meaning ‘sometimes’ whether it is single or double. Conclusion From the passage in the previous pages finally we can draw the conclusion that reduplication is one of word formation process that repeats the base of word. The repeated base can be totally or partially. The application of reduplication rule we can see in Bahasa Indonesia. As what have analyzed, all those analyzed words are different even though they are similar their word formation, reduplication. The words hewan-hewan, mata-mata, sayur mayur, suka duka, gado-gado, hujan-hujan, hujan-hujanan, mudah-mudah, mudah-mudahan, pukul-pukulan, pukul memukul, memukul-mukul, and kadang-kadang sometimes are not similar in their meaning, the way they are formed, and word class. However, most of reduplication words in Indonesia are plural form.

Studying morphology for one semester shows me and enlightens me how complicated is the process of a word formed. Lexeme formation, productivity, rules, etc. I did not know it before but now I know because of studying morphology. Its complexity makes studying language become more interesting. Furthermore, directly apply the theory that we study like comparing our language and the subject’s language in reduplication topic eases us to understand the subject. In the process of doing this homework, I read more and more to find the information of my subject’s research. Lastly, it is probable to state that the writer understand reduplication more than any other topic.

References 1. Lieber, Rochelle. Introducing Morphology. US : Cambridge University Press, 2009. 2. Miladel Mistica, Avery Andrews, I Wayan Arka. Double Double, Morphology and Trouble. 3. Martin Haspelmath, Andrea D. Sims. Understanding Morphology. London : Hodder Education, 2010.