206 Chapter 7 Nominals and noun phrases
(111) Sengko' parlo bensin lema liter.
I need gasoline five liter
‘I need five liters of gasoline.’
(112) Dayat ma-tad.ha' nase' guring tello pereng.
Dayat AV.CS-not.exist rice fry three plate
‘Dayat ate three plates of fried rice.’
(113) Karim la ngenom kopi dhu cangker.
Karim already AV-drink coffee two cup
‘Karim drank two cups of coffee.’
The fact that the number and unit of measure can follow the quantified noun
and the number must immediately precede the measure expression provides
some evidence that the number and the unit of measure noun form a constituent.
The measure phrase behaves like other numerals and quantifiers in its ability to
either precede or follow the quantified noun.
Naturally, count nouns can also occur with measure phrases, when the
speaker wishes to specify particular units. Examples such as packets, boxes,
truckloads, and the like.
(114) Bambang ngakan sabungkos/sabuntel kropok.
Bambang AV.eat one.packet cracker
‘Bambang ate a whole packet of crackers.’
(115) Sengko' melle po'lot dhu kothak.
I AV.buy pencil two box
‘I bought two boxes of pencils.’
Finally, biggi' ‘seed’ and meggi' ‘seed’ can both be used as a general measure-
ment unit for small objects, (116) and (117). This construction is optional in
Madurese but parallels the use of biji ‘seed’ as a classifier in Indonesian.
(116) a. Siti a-berri' buku lema meggi' dha' Sale.
Siti AV-give book five seed to Sale
‘Siti gave five books to Sale.’
b. Siti a-berri' lema meggi' buku dha' Sale.
Siti AV-give five seed book to Sale
‘Siti gave five books to Sale.’