240 Chapter 8 Prepositions and PPs
2.5 lebat ‘through’
Lebat, a verbal root which means ‘pass by/through’, and indicates the path of
motion (80) or the conduit for some object of transference, which is also a path
of motion (81).
(80) Nompa' jaran lor-nyellor lebat saba apa rowa.
AV.ride horse RED-AV.penetrate through field what that
‘He rode a horse, taking shortcuts through the fields.’
(81) Daddi engko' menta'a kerem-an lebat ba'na kakan-an.
so I AV.ask-IRR send-NOM via you eat-NOM
‘So I will ask that food be sent through you.’
2.6 parkara and hal ‘concerning’, ‘in regard to’
The lexical items parkara and hal are noun roots which are used prepositionally
to denote ‘about, concerning, in regard to’. Parkara is a noun meaning ‘matter,
question, business’, and hal is a noun meaning ‘case, situation, point’.
(82) Wati a-bukte-yagi parkara Bambang ka Hasan ja' aba'eng a-berri'
Wati AV-prove-AGI about Bambang to Hasan COMP he AV-give
pesse dha' Deni.
money to Deni
‘Wati proved about Bambang to Hasan that he gave money to Deni.’
(83) Atin a-koto' ka Satimma parkara guru.
Atin AV-whisper to Satimma about teacher
‘Atin whispered to Satimma about the teacher.’
(84) Guru-na yaken hal Dina ja' aba'eng bakal lulus ujiyan.
teacher-DEF sure about Dina COMP she will pass exam
‘The teacher is sure about the exam that Dina will pass it.’
2.7 sabab/bab ‘about’
Sabab is a noun root that means ‘cause, reason’. In its prepositional usage, the
truncated form bab is more frequently used.
(85) Hasan maca buku bab kopi.
Hasan AV.read book about coffee
‘Hasan read a book about coffee.’