Analyzing Prefix /me(N)-/ in the Indonesian Affixation: A Corpus-Based Morphology

Abstract

This paper presents a corpus-based study of the prefix /me(N)-/ in Indonesian, a productive affix used to form predicative constructions. The analysis was based on the Indonesian – Leipzig Corpora Collection (ILCC). It explored the prefix’s distribution, functions, and productivity, focusing on its role in encoding semantic and syntactic features. The results showed that the prefix /me(N)-/ was predominantly used to derive verbs, accounting for over 68,7% at the mean value of 7,1. However, /me(N)-/ was also employed to derive adjectives, albeit less frequently (19.4%), at the mean value of 6,3, and about 12% of forming new words from noun stems (mean value was about 5,9). Semantically, the prefix can uniquely express causative (49,24% at a mean value of 43), instrumental (11,45% at a mean value of 10), reflexive (19,47 at a mean value of 17), possessive/state meanings (10,31% at a mean value of 9), and reciprocal (9,54% at a mean value of 8,3). Derived verbs with the prefix /me(N)-/ had syntactic functions influenced by their semantic meaning. Some of the most common and distinctive syntactic functions of /me(N)-/ are form monovalent (29,18% having a mean value of 27,33), bivalent (48,40% having a mean value of 45,33), and trivalent (22,42% having a mean value of 21). The study demonstrated that /me(N)-/ was highly productive. Future research could examine the cognitive and processing mechanisms involved in understanding /me(N)-/-derived words.