Madurese reflexives with reference to Malay/Indonesian

Abstract

A topic of some interest in the literature on Malay and Indonesian and closely related languages is the nature of the expression that denotes reflexivity. With that debate as a backdrop, this paper addresses the question of whether or not Madurese, one of the closely related languages, contains a form that can unambiguously be identified as a reflexive anaphor. Examination of the grammatical properties of the most likely candidate aba’na dibi’ indicates that, unsurprisingly, this form shares many properties with reflexive-like forms in Indonesian and Malay. And like some recent analyses of those Indonesian/Malay forms, I conclude that reflexivity is only one of a number of meanings expressed by the Madurese form and that it is not a true reflexive anaphor.