The plural in Indonesian
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Does Indonesian Have a Plural?
George Quinn
Visiting Fellow,
Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU
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What is “number”?
Number is that feature in the grammar of a language that enables us to distinguish quantities, usually countable quantities.
singular, dual, trial, plural, paucal etc.
English has only singular and pluralIn English this seems to be a “mathematical” distinction between one and more-than-one
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Forming plural nouns in English
Add a sibilant book / books, bed / beds, house / houses
Internal vowel change man / men, mouse / mice, foot / feet
Words of foreign origin phenomenon / phenomena, crisis / crises
Irregular formschild / children, ox / oxen, deer / deer, she / they
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Translate into English, please…
lukisan besarSaya suka itu
semua
^
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How is plural expressed in Indonesian?
Basically Indonesian nouns are not morphologically marked for singular or plural
So they are like the English nouns sheep, deer, craft, fish and a few others
By my count there are probably around a dozen different ways of expressing more-than-one in Indonesian
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1. Plural determiners, e.g. … Cardinal numbers
tiga orang, sepuluh rumah, 30 kali
Banyak, semua, bermacam-macam etc.
banyak mobilsemua orangbermacam-macam alasanbeberapa komputeraneka bentuk
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2. Pre-noun plural marker paraFor humans only, marking a noun as plural and referring to a particular group
para mahasiswa, para karyawan, para korban
Para is analogous to plural markers in other Austronesian languages e.g.
Tagalog: mga as in mga bahay (houses)Tetun: sira as in uma sira (houses)
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3. Pre-verb plural marker pada
In informal and slangy usage the word pada in front of a verb indicates that the subject of the verb is plural
Pada makan yuk!Anak pada main di mana?
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4. The absence of a singular marker
If a noun lacks a clear marker of singularity, it may well be plural, e.g.
Saya pergi ke Bali untuk membeli lukisan.
Here lukisan is probably plural because it contrasts with
Saya pergi ke Bali untuk membeli sebuah lukisan.
Saya pergi ke Bali untuk membeli lukisan itu.
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5. Plurals in preceding sentences A noun may be perceived as plural if it refers back to a noun with plural referents in a preceding sentence
Dia membeli tiga mobil. Mobil itu diperbaiki sebelum dijual.
Pak Adi membangun sejumlah rumah. Sesudah selesai dibangun, lalu dijual.
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6. Reciprocal verbs
A verb with reciprocal meaning will have a subject that is plural
Rumah yang berhadap-hadapan itu…
Pendapat yang berlain-lainan itu…
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7. Verbs with an –i suffix
A transitive verb with an –i suffix can sometimes indicate that its object is plural
Dia duduk mengupasi kentang.
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8. Reduplicated adjective
If a noun has a reduplicated adjective adjunct, the noun may be plural
Besar-besar ikan itu!
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9. Semantic consistency
Logic and semantic consistency often dictate that we understand a certain noun as having plural referents
Orang Australia suka minum bir.
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10. Social context
The social context in which a conversation takes place can tell us whether a certain noun used in that conversation has singular or plural referents.
(Looking at a rack of dresses) Baju ini terlalu mahal = These dresses are too expensive.
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11. Pronouns that are always plural
A number of pronouns are always plural i.e. they can never be singular.
kalian, mereka, kita
But not kami which, in certain contexts, can be singular.
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12. Reduplication
Full reduplication
saudara-saudara, rumah-rumah, anak-anak
Partial or variant reduplication
gerak-gerik, coreng-moreng
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The enigma of reduplication
It is sometimes said that reduplication expresses plurality or multiplicity or “more-than-one”.
But is this true?
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Some “non-plural” instances of reduplication
Consider these instances of reduplication
kuda-kuda, langit-langitorang-orangan, mobil-mobilanseorang tante-tante, seorang ibu-ibukehijau-hijauan, kekanak-kanakansesuatu, seseorangberjalan-jalan, bermain-main
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What is the meaning of reduplication?
Reduplication indicates fuzziness, lack of precision, variety, uncertain or problematic perception of something
Un-reduplicated forms suggest precision, uniformity, clarity, unambiguous perception of something
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What does this mean for the idea of plurality in Indonesian? It may be that plurality in Indonesian is not “mathematical” (i.e. more-than-one) but rather a question of clarity of perception
Singular = clear, sharp, precise. Expressed in unreduplicated forms.
Plural = fuzzy, imprecise, variegated. Expressed in reduplicated forms.
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But… Indonesian is capable of being precise when talking about plural things So… it is possible that expressing number in Indonesian is both
“mathematical” (one / more-than-one)
and “perceptual” (precise / fuzzy)
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Schematically, number may look like this…
Singular
(one)
Plural
(more-than-one)
Sharp, precise
(unreduplicated)
satu gelas
sebuah gelas
tiga gelas
banyak gelas
Fuzzy, variegated
(reduplicated)
langit-langit
seorang tante-tante
anak-anak
buah-buahan
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Is reduplication becoming more frequent?
In short… yes, it is. There is some evidence to suggest that reduplication is becoming more frequent, but it is not clear why.
But it is not a new development. It seems to have been happening at least since the nineteenth century.
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“People” (orang) in Hikayat Raja Pasai (c.1390)
Maka Sultan Malikul Mansur pun menyuruhkan orang berlengkap akan mengiringkan Sultan itu.
Sultan Malikul Mansur commanded the people to arm themselves in order to accompany the Sultan.
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“People” (orang) in Hikayat Raja Pasai (c.1390)
“… dalam negeri ini badak makan anaknya.” Maka kata orang dalam jong itu, “Tiada kami tahu apa ertinya katamu itu.”
“… in this town, rhinoceroses eat their young.” And the people in the junk said, “We don’t know what your words mean.”
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“People” (orang) in Hikayat Raja Pasai (c.1390)
Maka orang yang melihati itu pun segeralah ia kembali bepersembahkan segala kata menteri itu kepada Sultan Perlak. Maka titah Sultan Perlak, "Pergilah kamu sambut menteri itu."
The people who saw this, immediately they went back and reported all the minister’s words to the Sultan of Perlak. And the Sultan said: “[All of] you go and greet the minister.”
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Occurrences of orang compared with orang-orang, over timeHikayat Raja Pasai (c.1390)
orang = 219, orang-orang = 0
Hikayat Hang Tuah (c.1700) orang = 1711, orang-orang = 1
Hikayat Abdullah (1842 revised 1849) orang = 1172, orang-orang = 540
Extracts from Warta Melaya (1935-1941) orang = 152, orang-orang = 327