244 Chapter 8 Prepositions and PPs
This does not appear to be a question of formality but a question of style and
usage.
Locative expressions may be used with abstract nouns as well as concrete
nouns. In (104), the nominalized form of pekker ‘think (about)’ is the entity for
which a location, dhalem ‘inside’ is being specified. In (105), the object is the
abstract nominal kasossa'an ‘sadness’.
(104) Neng dhalem pekker-ra,Sarfiah Ambami jareya nyo'on dha'
at inside think-DEF Sarfiah Ambami this AV.ask to
Se Kobasa...
Si Lord
‘During her meditation, Sarfiah Ambami asked the Lord...’
(105) Mon ra'yad-da dhalem ka-sossa'-an, Sarifah Ambami jareya gella'
if people-DEF inside NOM-sad Sarfiah Ambami this before
gampang a-tolong.
easy AV-help
‘If the people had problems, Sarifah Ambami gladly helped.’
In colloquial speech, the preposition preceding the locative noun is some-
times omitted as long as directionality or stativity plays no important role in
interpreting the clause, that is, for those situations in which it is not important to
indicate that the action is moving toward (ka, dha' ‘to’) or away from (dhari
‘from’) or is situated at (e, neng ‘at’) a particular location. This is true in (105),
in which dhalem occurs without a locative preposition. In (106b) and (107b),
concrete locations are specified, and speakers sometimes (especially younger
speakers) use the structures without the locative preposition that appears in the
a-variants. However, in direct questioning, there is a great deal of variation in
regard to this and only the a-variants are universally accepted.
(106) a. Ita badha e dhalem kamar.
Ita exist at inside room
‘Ita is in the room.’
b. %Ita badha dhalem kamar.
(107) a. Buku-na ba'eng badha e baba-na meja.
book-DEF you exist at under-DEF table
‘Your book is under the table.’
b. %Bukuna ba'eng badha babana meja.
Finally, as is true of Indonesian-type languages in general, the locative