1) The document discusses the morphological processes in the Madurese language, including affixation and reduplication. 2) Major affixation processes include prefixes, suffixes, circumfixes, and limited infixation. Prefixes include -ng- to indicate active voice verbs and -é- to indicate passive voice verbs. Suffixes include -an which can derive nouns, verbs, or adverbs depending on the stem. 3) Reduplication processes include final syllable reduplication, whole word reduplication, initial syllable reduplication, and ca reduplication. Reduplication can indicate plurality, emphasis, or derive nouns from verbs.

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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