Sentential subjects 347
tences, although others judge them acceptable with either form. As mon is more
widely accepted, it occurs first in the data that follow.
(53) a. Mon/Ja' Sinap lo' lulus ujiyan, lecek.^6
if /COMP Sinap not pass exam untrue
‘That Sinap did not pass the exam is untrue.’
b. Lecek, mon/ja' Sinap lo' lulus ujiyan.
untrue if /COMP Sinap not pass exam
‘It is untrue that Sinap did not pass the exam.’
(54) a. Mon/Ja' Embuk nyabis dha' Bibbi' ba'ari', becce'.
if /COMP eld.sister AV.go to aunt yesterday good
‘That Big Sister went to visit Auntie yesterday is good.’
b. Becce', mon/ja' Embuk nyabis dha' Bibbi' ba'ari.
good if /COMP eld.sister AV.go to aunt yesterday
‘It is good that Big Sister went to visit Auntie yesterday.’
In (53a), the clausal subject precedes the predicate lecek ‘untrue’; the same oc-
curs in (54a), where the predicate is becce' ‘good’. In the b-sentences, the sub-
ject follows the predicate. As is the case in the English translational equivalents,
the structure with the sentential subject following the predicate is more com-
mon. As is expected, no overt preverbal pronominal element is required in the
Madurese sentences. It is possible, however, for some speakers to have a deictic
element occur in this position, as in (55) and (56), although not all speakers find
this to be completely acceptable (thus the % annotation).
(55) %Juwa lecek, mon/ja' Sinap lo' lulus ujiyan.
that untrue if /COMP Sinap not pass exam
‘It is untrue that Sinap did not pass the exam.’
(56) %Ajiya becce', mon/ja' Embuk nyabis dha' Bibbi' ba'ari.
this good if /COMP eld.sister AV.go to aunt yesterday
‘It is good that Big Sister went to visit Auntie yesterday.’
The sentences in (55) and (56) are dislocation structures, with the clausal ele-
ment clarifying the referents of the pronominal elements juwa ‘that’ and ajiya
‘this’.
(^6) Many speakers prefer the Indonesian spelling for 'exam' ujiyan. Here I follow Samoe-
din (1977) and use the spelling the spelling ujiyan, which reflects the glide which is
inserted between the vowels. See Chapter 2 on glide epenthesis.