Voice 251
kera ‘think’ ngera
semprot ‘spray’ nyemprot
As described in Chapters 2 and 4 and clear in (3), the surface realization of the
prefix is determined by the initial segment of the verb root to which it is affixed.
When the initial segment is a vowel or liquid ([r] or [l]), the based form, the
velar nasal ng- surfaces. Thus, ngenom ‘drink’, ngrosak ‘ruin’ and ngladine
‘serve’.^1 Otherwise, a nasal that is basically homorganic with the initial conso-
nant of the stem replaces that consonant; thus, baca/maca ‘read’, toles/noles
‘write’, kerem/ngerem ‘send’, and so on.^2
The prefix a- is less widespread, but occurs with a sizable number of
roots nonetheless.
(4) Transitive verbs taking ng- actor voice morphology
root actor voice
berri’ ‘give’ aberri’
temmo ‘meet’ atemmo
gabay ‘make’ agabay
jelling ‘look at’ ajelling
sassa ‘wash’ asassa
One generalization that emerges is that to a significant degree, stems begining
with voiced and voiceless aspirated consonants take the prefix a-. This has been
observed by Stevens (1968:87) and is amply illustrated in various grammatical
sketches of Madurese and in textual material. The a- prefix at times surfaces as
an- with individual lexical items, as in the case of andaddiyagi ‘make become’;
this seems to vary somewhat speaker to speaker. Stevens (1968) cites several
examples.
There is a small number of stems that can take either prefix, with no ap-
parent affect on meaning.
(^1) In many descriptions of Madurese and other Indonesian languages, the nasal actor
voice prefix is given with an archisegment N-, to represent a general nasal consonant.
However, archisegments are generally reserved for those instances in which the under-
lying form cannot be ascertained. Here, in neutral non-conditioning environments ng-
occurs; thus, this is clearly the underlying form of this morpheme in Madurese (and
other Indonesian languages).
(^2) We must say 'basically' homorganic because the dental nasal is used with alveo-
lar/retroflex stops and the palatal nasal rather than the dental nasal alternates with s.