68 Chapter 3 Lexical categories
As these data show, only toles ‘write’, buwang ‘discard’, mole ‘go home’, and
entar ‘go’, all of which are canonical verbs, can take the prefix ta-. With transi-
tive verb roots, the state of affairs holds for the object, giving it a passive-like
feel. With intransitive verb roots, naturally it is the subject for which the state of
affairs holds. However, when ta- is affixed to adjective-like roots such as penter
‘smart’, pote ‘white’ and kotor ‘dirty’ and noun roots such as roma ‘house’,
saba ‘field’ and ebu' ‘mother’, the result is ungrammatical. Sentences like those
in (19) and (20) are acceptable, but no such sentences with the starred examples
can be constructed.
(19) Buku-na Siti ta-buwang.
book-DEF Siti IN-discard
‘Siti’s book got thrown away.’ (most likely accidentally)
(20) Rokip ta-entar dha' roma-na Adi.
Rokip IN-go to house-DEF Adi
‘Rokip went to Adi’s house by mistake.’ (she was supposed to stay away)
The involitive construction is discussed in more detailed in Chapter 9. For now,
it suffices as a potential diagnostic for verb roots.
Verbs, but neither nouns nor adjectives, may follow the abilitive modal
bisa ‘can’. All of the examples in (21) are acceptable while those in (22) and
(23) are not.
(21) a. Mored reya bisa ngarte.
student this can understand
‘This student can understand.’
b. Mored reya bisa tao jawab.
student this can know answer
‘This student can know the answer.’
c. Mored reya bisa mangkat.
student this can leave
‘This student can leave.’
d. Mored reya bisa entar.
student this can go
‘This student can go.’
(22) a. *Mored reya bisa penter.
student this can smart