Closed class categories 91
The use of most of these expressions is fairly straightforward. For example, the
negative particles ta' and lo' occur immediately before the verb of a clause or
any auxiliaries associated with the verb. Ja', the negative imperative marker also
immediately precedes the imperative form of the verb. Enja' ‘no’ occurs sen-
tence initially, and ta'iya, used to form tag questions generally, but not exclu-
sively occurs sentence finally. Finally, iya/ya ‘yes’ can occur freely in sen-
tences. These various forms and their distribution in clauses are discussed in
more detail in later chapters.
Some of the interjections used in Madurese are:
(95) Interjections
adhu ‘oh/ah’–used to express surprise or distress
e ‘hey’–used to get someone’s attention
ha'–an exclamation used to denote pleasure, emptiness, or in asking
a question
la' ‘oh’
lo'–exclamation of surprise
o ‘ok’
oh–exclamation of realization or understanding
wa'–exclamation of surprise or distress
When used in a clause, adhu generally occurs in initial position as in the follow-
ing example of adhu signaling the speaker’s distress.
(96) Adhu, engko' pas a-mempe dha' iya?
oh I then AV-dream like.this
‘Oh, why do I dream like this?’
There are a variety of other forms, many of which signal emphasis and/or
the speaker’s commitment to what he or she is saying.
(97) ano ‘whatsit, whachamacallit’–a hesitation form that can be used
nominally or verbally
ayu' ‘come on!, let’s go!’–an exhortation to action
mara ‘come on!, let’s...’–a hortative
ba'–a particle expressing doubt or the fact that what is being said is
perhaps unexpected
ja' ‘indeed, and so’–used to link consecutive thoughts
joh–an emphatic particle expressing assertion
me' ‘perhaps’–a particle expressing doubt that often occurs in
interrogatives
ra–an emphatic particle
sala ‘yet’–a particle expressing something counter to expectations