Abstract
The suffix nya is one of the most frequent and polysemic suffixes in Indonesian. It can provide definite determination and topicalization. The "Verb nya", which often appears in a topicalized subject Noun Phrase (NP), is generally labelled as a deverbal noun. Nevertheless, many syntactic constraints set it apart from Indonesian deverbal nouns. "Verb nya" must be complemented by a NP, which can easily be reconstructed as a former subject: a sentence is topicalized and thus becomes a noun clause, generally the subject of the main clause Verb Phrase (VP). I argue that "Verb nya" is a subordinate noun clause, almost always conveying causality. This causal noun clause, an innovation in formal written Indonesian (especially in the media), seems to fill a "gap": the impossibility of beginning a sentence with a subordinating morpheme ('that', 'because').
Recommended Citation
Grangé, Philippe
(2015)
"The Indonesian verbal suffix "-nya"; Nominalization or subordination?,"
Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia: Vol. 16:
No.
1, Article 7.
DOI: 10.17510/wjhi.v16i1.370
Available at:
https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol16/iss1/7