Use of verb valency patterns in the Indonesian monolingual learner’s dictionary

Abstract

The verb is one of the most perplexing features for learners of BIPA (Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing “Indonesian for foreign speakers”). Indonesian verbs are particularly rich in affixes that correspond to their numerous senses. The learners find it challenging to use verbs with the appropriate affixes in a sentence structure. To function effectively as a learning tool, dictionaries must provide morphological and grammatical information. Frame semantics theory is used in this research to determine a verb’s meaning based on its semantic context and frame. The verb is described by identifying the grammatical constructions in which it participates, and by characterizing all of the obligatory and optional types of companions. By doing this, we can obtain the verb valency pattern to add to a dictionary’s morphological and grammatical information. This study aims to create entry models of affixed verbs with the valency pattern. The six transitive verbs for discussion comprise a variety of affixes with various senses: mempersembahkan “to present/dedicate”; membersihkan “to clean”; mencintai “to love”; memperlancar “to expedite”; memperbaiki “to fix”; and memberlakukan “to apply”. These entries serve as models for the BIPA learner’s dictionary.