Indonesian affixes in Tukang Besi

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information from Marc Donohue (personal communication, 2012). Although no examples of hybrid formation are available, this prefix seems to be used with native stems.

1 passive marker

  • di- ‘passive’, used as a passive in subordinate clauses only in Tukang Besi, in addition to native (cognate) markers i- and (less commonly used) ni-. What additionally may have helped borrowing is that Tukang Besi past tense marker is di- ~ i-, i.e. the same allomorphy as the resulting passive marking pattern (Donohue 1999).

An additional, marginal case is kempe-, a reanalysis of the first two syllables of kempetai ‘Japanese secret police during the occupation’ and Tukang Besi -taʔi ‘feces’. Now, kempe- can be used with native stems such as -buta ‘vagina’, -lau ‘penis’, etc. (Marc Donohue, personal communication, 2012).