Pronouns 185
(15) sengko', engko', aba' ‘I’
ba'na, ba'en, ba'eng, kake, sedha ‘you’^1
aba'na, aba'eng, dibi'na, dibi'eng ‘he/she’
The noun root aba' ‘body’ (cognate with Javanese awak) forms the stem for
second and some third person forms. The most common form for second person
is the shortened stem ba' with the definite suffix -na. In Western Madura, the
form is ba'eng, following the rule that replaces -na with the allomorph -eng
following a glottal stop. The form ba'en also is used in Central Madura, in the
areas near Sampang and Pamekasan (Sutoko, Soegianto, Surani, Sariono, and
Suyanto 1998; Pawitra 2009). Additionally, the third person forms aba'na and
aba'eng are also frequently used for second person (16). The dominant third
person forms are aba'na and aba'eng. Dibi'na and dibi'eng, derived from the
root dibi' ‘alone’, are also used but to a somewhat lesser extent, illustrated in
(17). Additionally, as (18) and (19) demonstrate, the word aba' can serve as a
pronoun on its own. In each case here, aba' is used to designate the speaker.
(16) Ngarte aba'eng iya.
understand you yes
‘You understand, right?’
(17) Tape dibi’eng nolak karana gilo’ tao dha' kabin.
but she AV.refuse because still.not know to married
‘But she refused, because she didn’t yet know about marriage.’
(18) Me' ce' aman-na aba'.
EMPH very safe-DEF body
‘I have a feeling of well being.’
(19) Ya on-laon-an ja' aba' bi'-dibi'-an. Adha' reng nolong-e.
yes RED-slow-AN that body RED-alone-AN not.exist person AV.help-E
‘It is slow because I am alone. Nobody helps me.’
With the exception of first person singular tang ‘my’ and its variant sang
‘my’, the same pronoun is used regardless of its grammatical relation in a
clause. Tang/sang is used solely to mark possession, as in (20)
(20) Tang ana' bine' lo' tao entar dha' Bali.
my child female not know go to Bali
‘My daughter has never been to Bali.’
(^1) Pawitra (2009) also list ba'eh as a form used in Bangkalan.