JoAL Journal of Applied Linguistics JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS Vol.
4 No.
January 2025 e- ISSN 2809 - 1922 , p-ISSN 2809 - 1914 Available online at:
https://journal.
org/index.
php/joal/index Excessive Adjectives Using the Multiple Affixations ma-hu in Toba Batak Esron Ambarita1*.
Himpun Panggabean2.
Dona Enjel Loina Pasaribu 3
1,2,3
Fakultas Sastra Universitas Methodist Indonesia.
Indonesia Correspondence Email: esronambarita@gmail.
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received : December 6, 2024 Revised : December 9, 2024 Accepted : December 23, 2024 Available online : January 2, 2025 Keywords:
excessive adjectives.
Abstract This study aimed to investigate the multiple affixations ma-hu in Toba Batak.
This study desired verbal data on the multiple affixationss as the primary data.
Secondary data were also taken based on the writerAos knowledge because the writer is a TB native speaker.
This study used a qualitative method.
The results show that there are four alternating forms of the multiple affixations ma-hu attached to root adjectives, they are, .
if the final sound of the root adjectives are .
, .
, or [U], the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-k.
, .
if the final sound of the root adjectives are .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-p.
, .
if the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-s.
, and .
if the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
The variant form of the multiple affixations ma-hu is pa-hu.
INTRODUCTION
One of the examples of the intriguing linguistic rules known as the multiple affixations is In English, for example, it is possible to create complex words by beginning with national- when many affixes are added to the root.
Other illustrations are denationalisation, antidenationalisation, preantidenationalisation, etc but not *denationalisate.
All languages in the world, or at least regional languages in Indonesia have not yet been covered by the body of research on multiple affixations.
Furthermore, researchers are working to determine how to "write" this unwritten, subconscious norm.
As a result, the author hopes to advance the research by examining the many affixations found in Toba Batak .
enceforth referred to as "TB"), which was chosen due to its endangered state.
Samosir island in Sumatra and the areas east, south, and southwest of Lake Toba are where TB was first spoken (Crystal, 1993.
Percival, 1.
TB is a regional language in everyday social interactions in the villages of Samosir Regency.
Toba Regency.
Humbang Hasundutan Regency, and Tapanuli Utara Regency.
Sinaga .
asserts that understanding TB means applying BatakAos soul and blood.
The cultural shift to the national Indonesian language, the decline in intergenerational transmission, and the lack of language documentation and resources have all contributed to TB's struggles for survival (Lubis & Bowo, 2022.
Rajagukguk et al.
, 2.
Published by English Lecturers and Teachers Association (ELTA) Copyright A 2025, authors DOI: 10.
52622/joal.
Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 Throughout history, it is noted that the first study in Toba Batak was done by Tuuk .
entitled Tobasche Spraakunst AuA Grammar of Toba BatakAy.
Additionally, there is a notably limited number of studies focusing on multiple affixations in TB.
Other research related to TB has addressed specific cultural aspects of the TB community, such as their folktales, songs, or rituals (Ginting et al.
Nadeak, 2023.
Rezeki, 2024.
Siahaan & Barus, 2022.
Sidabutar & Mulyadi, 2023.
Sinamo et , 2021.
Sitorus & Lubis, 2023.
Simaremare et al.
, 2023.
Tampubolon et al.
, 2.
, but researcher Ambarita stands out as one of the leading scholars in the morphological systems of TB.
examined adjectival affixation, adverbial affixation, adverbial derivation, combinations of the prefix um-, the infix -um-, the suffix -an, clitics, denominal nominals, deverbal nominals, and nominal word formations since 2016.
While numerous studies have conducted contrastive analyses of TB and English (Armando et , 2023.
Siahaan et al.
, 2024.
Sianipar et al.
, 2022.
Sidabutar, 2.
Ambarita has studied adjectives in TB .
2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2019, 2020a, 2020b, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c 2022a, 2022b, 2023a, 2023b, 2.
This current study is particularly important as it aims to enhance the understanding of the research gap concerning a language that holds significant cultural value, such as TB, which faces a shortage of experts.
As a regional language in Indonesia.
TB must continue to thrive following the mandate out lined in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
These conditions necessitate the urgent need for more linguistic research contributions to keep rekindling the effort to save the endangered language.
The author is interested in the underlying process that leads to the attachments of multiple affixations ma-hu to root adjectives in TB.
The rule of multiple affixations, determined by the sequence of consonants or adjacent consonants within root adjectives, will be better understood if this research gap is filled.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Adjectives Adjectives are distinguished from nouns and verbs by different types.
Nouns have plural markers, verbs have tenses while adjectives do not have such certain markers even if they function as attributive or predicative (Nababan, 1981: .
Adjectives are words that modify pronouns or nouns following it (Houghton, 1984: .
Seven affixes can be attached to adjectives in TB, i.
, prefix .
m-], infix [-um-], suffix [-a.
, four multiple affixations, i.
, .
, .
a-ass.
, .
a-h.
, and .
a-Afull adjective reduplicationAn.
(Ambarita, 2018: .
The results of attaching affixes to adjectives in TB are inflectional because the presence of the affixes does not change the word class of the base (Ambarita, 2016: .
According to Nida .
9: .
the analysis of any language, phonological, and distributional data is relevant in establishing the limits of morphological unit.
According to Percival .
1: 74-.
adjectives consist either of a base alone or of a base and an affix.
Adjectives in TB can be formed by attaching affixations that generate prefixed adjectives, infixed adjectives, suffixed adjectives, and confixed adjectives.
Affixes that can be attached to adjectives are prefix um-, infix -um-, suffix -an, and multiple affixations marsi-i, ha-assa, ma-hu, sadjective reduplicationA-na (Sitorus, 1986: .
According to Nababan .
the category of adjective degree in TB falls in two classes i.
the comparative .
m- or -a.
, balga 'big' Ie ub-balga or balga-an 'bigger'.
The symbol Ie AobecomesAo in the next parts is used for clarity and ease of exposition here.
The next example is roa 'ugly' Ie rumoa or roa-an 'uglier', .
the excessive .
a-h.
, balga Ie pa-balga-hu 'too big'.
AofarAo Ie pa-dao-hu 'too far'.
According to the writer.
NababanAos statement is less valid.
The writer found that adjective degree in Toba Batak appears in five degrees, i.
, .
the comparative degree with .
prefix um-:
ddeUga.
AobetterAo, .
infix -um-: dumenggan .
umeUga.
AobestAo, .
suffix -an Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 dengganan .
eUgana.
AobetterAo, .
confix um-an: undenggan .
ddeUgana.
AobetterAo etc.
the superlative degree with na comparative degree: na undenggan .
a uddeUga.
AobestAo, etc.
the similar degree with multiple affixations ha-assa: hadengganassa .
adeUganass.
Aoon the quality of goodAo etc.
the distinctive degree with multiple affixations marsi-i: marsidenggani .
arsideUgan.
Aonot as good asAo etc, and .
the excessive degree with the multiple affixations ma-hu: madengganhu .
adeUgakk.
Aotoo goodAo or with the multiple affixations pa-hu: padengganhu .
adeUgakk.
Aotoo goodAo .
Affixation Affixes are defined as bound morphemes that do not have meanings unless they are attached to free form or bound form (Katamba, 1993: .
Affixations are the processes of attaching bound morphemes to free morphemes or root words to form new words.
Affixations are the most common and productive way of forming words.
Affixation generates complex and new words.
According to Parera .
8: .
affixation processes occur if bound morphemes are attached to free morphemes.
Affixes are said to be bound forms because they cannot stand alone in direct utterances and grammatically, affixes are always attached to forms that already have meanings, either root words or complex forms.
Affixes can be added to the initial, middle, or final position of words.
Enhancing vocabulary practically is by being familiar with recognizing productive prefixes or suffixes rather than memorizing every single word separately (Nodjoomi, 2017: .
There are some issues needed to be considered in attaching affixes to root words, they are, the change of forms, the change of meanings, and the change of syntactic category.
Generally, affixation processes require phonological features that relate to sounds and semantic features and also with meanings.
However, the basic issue in affixation processes is whether or not there are changes in the syntactic categories of the neologism (Lieber, 2009: .
Multiple Affixations What is going to explore in this study are how the ways in which complex words are formed by creating bases which contain inflectional morphemes.
Let us take the Latinate root -dict- meaning AospeakAo or AosayAo which is found in diction, dictate, dictatorial, contradict, benediction, etc.
Starting with -dict-, we can form complex words such as contradictory and contradictoriness by attaching several affixes to the root, i.
, we can have multiple affixations (Katamba, 1993: .
This process can take place in a number of rounds with the output created by one round of affixation serving as the input to a later round.
In Indonesian, for example, the word mempersoalkan 'take something or someone into a problem' has three multiple affixations consisting of two prefixes i.
, prefixes memand prefixes per-, and one suffix -kan.
Another example is the word mempercayakan Aotake something or someone to be believedAo consists of the integration of two multiple affixations i.
, prefix memand suffix -kan.
Multiple affixations is a combination of two affixes or more attached to root words.
This affix has a particular form and particular grammatical meaning, appearing coincidentally to the root word of which the processes are from different entities.
Alonso's research .
1: 272-.
focused on multiple affixations in forming nouns in ancient English that has particular distribution and particular On the other hand, multiple affixations cannot be covered by a single meaning category because it depends on the number of multiple affixations used to represent two or more semantic categories (Manova, 2011: .
Due to affixation, enhancing vocabulary practically is by being familiar with recognizing productive prefixes or suffixes rather than memorizing every single word Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 Assimilation as a Morphonological Process The term morphonology was first introduced by a pioneer of praha named Trubetzkoy .
The term is a short form of morphophonology that is a part that analyzes the phonological structure of morphemes (Suhardi, 2005: .
In traditional terms morphophonemic is the change of morphemes in morphological processes either affixation, reduplication, or compoundings (Chaer, 2007: 195-.
One sound changes to another because of the limit between morphemes.
The root and the derivative words must be identified in the sound change (Ino, 2.
Morphophonemic as the study of structure and morpheme is a potential combination among morphemes in a certain language because of the variation of phonemic processes faced by the combination of morphemes (Malmikjer, 1995: .
Morphophonemic focuses the discussions on language phenomena that cover phonological and morphological issues (Katamba, 1993: .
Therefore, the changes that occur because of the affixation processes in word formation are the change of nasal sound, vowels, phoneme addition, and phoneme deletion because of the different phonemes (Chomsky and Halle 1968: 184-.
This statement is relevant to SchaneAos .
2: .
when morphemes are combined to form a word, different segmental morphemes are in order and sometimes change.
Besides, morphological processes are the ways of forming words by combining morphemes with other morpheme through affixations, reduplication, compoundings, acronyms, or conversion.
(Samsuri, 1982: .
One type of morphological processes is an assimilation as a part of sound change in languages.
According to Crowley .
2: .
there are some sound changes in world languages, i.
, assimilation, dissimilation, lenition, fortition, apocope, syncope, haplology, epenthesis, prothesis, metathesis, phoneme addition, phoneme addition, unpacking, etc.
With regard to the changes that the assimilated sounds undergo, we can distinguish assimilation of the place of articulation, assimilation of the manner of articulation of articulation, and assimilation of the voice (Ramelan, 1988: 162-.
Example of assimilation of the place of articulation: .
n-] is replaced by .
m-] before words beginning with a bilabial stop like possible.
There is a change from .
which involves a change in a place of articulation, i.
, an alveolar nasal becomes a bilabial nasal.
Example of an assimilation of the manner of articulation: the morpheme .
n-] becomes .
l-] before words beginning with lateral consonants like legal.
In this case there is a change from a nasal consonant .
into a lateral consonant.
An assimilation of the voice involves a change in the voicing of the assimilated like the plural suffix .
is added to a noun ending in a voiceless consonant, it is changed into the voiceless fricative .
Inflectional and Derivational Affixes Inflectional affixes are frequently considered very productive in forming words (Anderson, 1982: .
In inflected languages, every inflected word has morphosyntactic features in sentences (Stump, 2001: .
In English, for example, the form writes in She writes a letter has verbal adjustment features towards subject, tense, and intended condition by suffix -s.
It means that the attachment of the suffix -s to write does not change its syntactic category as a verb.
The attachment of suffix -s in writes shows verbal third person singular, -s in books shows plural inflection, and -ed in helped shows past inflection.
Based on the three examples above, the syntactic category of writes is a verb, books is a noun, and helped is a verb.
The attachment of -s to writes does not change its syntactic category as a verb, the book becomes books does not change its syntactic category as a noun.
The same thing occurs to help and helped.
Before and after the attachment of -s its syntactic category is a verb.
Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 The word inflectional is generated from inflection i.
, a construction of which has the same distribution as its root word (Samsuri, 1982: .
Derivational affixes are non-inflectional processes of root words to form new words (Kridalaksana, 1993: .
In English, for example, the presence of -ness to adjectives means something not only syntactically, but also semantically because the meaning of neologism will change after -ness is attached to adjectives (Lieber, 2004: .
A derivation is a word formation that changes syntactic categories.
(Samsuri, 1982: .
It can also be said that derivational is the process of attaching affixes to root words that bring about the syntactic category of a new word that is different from the root word's syntactic category (Anderson, 1982: 585.
Bauer, 1983.
Bauer 2.
Grammatical and Lexical Meanings Grammatical meaning refers to meaning distributed by the relation between language elements in bigger units.
, the relation between words with other words in phrases or clauses (Kridalaksana, 1993: .
In other words, grammatical meaning is a new word meaning formed after attaching affixes to root words of which the root words face grammaticalization.
In English, for example, the grammatical meaning of the suffix -er in bigger is 'comparative adjectiveAo.
Apart from grammatical meaning, affixed words also change word meaning lexically.
The change of this lexical meaning is determined by the attached affixes to root words.
Lexical meaning is the meaning of language elements as the symbol of things, events, and other entities owned by the language itself apart from its usage or context (Kridalaksana, 1993: .
We will speculate how the word affects the meaning of sentences wholly, and before we listen to other parts of the sentence, we have understood the meaning of the word that we have thought (Li, 2017: 1.
In English, for example, the lexical meaning of bigger is Aosomething is larger in size, height, weight, number, power, or capacity than some something elseAo.
METHODS
This study used a qualitative descriptive method dealing with a quantifiable mode by doing an in-depth descriptive analysis to reveal the multiple affixations in TB.
The data were collected by applying the documentary technique.
Many exciting and valuable projects in the field have been concerned with information obtained by examining records or documents (Ary, 1979: .
Bearing SudaryantoAos .
words in mind about how the condition and uniqueness of a language can be best known through the reality of the field.
The language in question is studied in a natural context (Djajasudarma, 1.
, where the language pattern can be examined without the intervention of an experiment (Seliger, 1.
This study desired verbal data on the multiple affixations in TB as the primary data source.
Referring to Muhadjir .
, the researcher ensured that the data collected were not artificial or Semi-structured interviews were carried out individually with 6 participants.
The verbal or oral data as primary data was recorded directly from TB speakers in real situations.
This study also obtained secondary data from the writerAos knowledge because the writer is a TB native speaker.
FINDINGS
Based on the data analysis and discussion, there are four alternating forms of the multiple affixations ma-hu attached to root adjectives with the following requirements:
If the final sounds of the root adjectives are .
, .
, or [U], the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-k.
If the final sounds of the root adjectives are .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-p.
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 form .
a-s.
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-t.
The Alternating Form .
a-k.
The multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-k.
if the final sounds of the root adjectives are .
, .
, or [U] as discussed in the following parts.
1 The Root Adjectives End with the Sound .
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-k.
in its phonetic writing as the alternating form.
The sound .
of the multiple affixations mahu is pronounced .
The sound .
is similar to its neighboring sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu in terms of points of articulation.
For example, the sound changes from .
in ma-etekhu Ie .
a-etek-k.
, ma-bagak-hu Ie .
a-bagak-k.
, ma-danak-hu Ie .
a-danak-k.
The process of changing one sound into another sound i.
, sound .
in the examples as the result of attaching the multiple affixations ma-hu to root adjectives is called progressive assimilation rather than regressive assimilation.
In the examples above, the sounds .
are called morpho-phonemic alternation or allomorphs, predictable in terms of the environment.
An assimilation is a process in which one sound is replaced by another as the result of combining one morpheme with another.
An assimilation denotes a process by which sounds are made Assimilation is only one type of morpho-phonemic alternation.
It is, in fact, quite common for sounds to change because of the influence of the environment.
Phonological requirements in a language can alter the shape that individual sound takes in different words.
More data are presented .
AosmallAo AobeautifulAo .
AoyouthfulAo .
AosultryAo ma-hu Ie maetekhu ma-hu Ie mabagakhu ma-hu Ie madanakhu ma-hu Ie mahodokhu .
Aotoo smallAo Aotoo beautifulAo Aotoo youthfulAo Aotoo sultryAo .
Based on the data above, the word 'small' as the meaning of the base adjective etek .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-etek-hu .
a-etek-k.
'too The word AobeautifulAo as the meaning of the base adjective bagak .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-bagak-hu .
a-bagak-k.
Aotoo beautifulAo.
The word AoyouthfulAo as the meaning of the base adjective danak .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-danak-hu .
a-danak-k.
Aotoo youthfulAo.
The word AosultryAo as the meaning of the base adjective hodok .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hodok-hu .
a-hodok-k.
Aotoo sultryAo.
2 The Root Adjectives End with the Sound .
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
, therefore, ma-hu is pronounced .
a-k.
in its phonetic writing as the alternating form.
The sound .
as the final sound of the root adjectives is assimilated with the sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu resulting in sounds .
For example, the sound changes from .
in maugan-hu Ie .
a-ugak-k.
, ma-bajan-hu Ie .
a-bajak-k.
, ma-denggan-hu Ie .
a-deUgak-k.
is because of assimilation of manner of articulation.
Assimilation of manner of articulation takes place because it involves a change in manner of articulating the consonants.
Sounds changes or morphophonemic alternation occurs because of the influence of the environment as presented below.
Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 .
AofertileAo AouglyAo ma-hu Ie mauganhu ma-hu Ie mabajanhu .
eUga.
AogoodAo ma-hu Ie dengganhu .
eUgakk.
Aotoo fertileAo Aotoo uglyAo Aotoo goodAo Aotoo fastAo ma-hu .
ahapogakku The word.
'fertile' as the AofastAo meaning of the baseIeadjective ugan .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-ugan-hu .
a-ugap-p.
'too fertile'.
The word AouglyAo as the meaning of the base adjective bajan .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-bajan-hu .
a-bajak-k.
Aotoo uglyAo.
The word AogoodAo as the meaning of the base adjective denggan .
eUga.
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-denggan-hu .
a-deUgak-k.
Aotoo goodAo.
The word AofastAo as the meaning of the base adjective hapogan .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hapogan-hu .
a-hapogak-k.
Aotoo fastAo.
3 The Root Adjectives End with the Sound [U] If the final sound of the root adjectives is [U], the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-k.
in its phonetic writing as the morpho-phonemic alternation or allomorphs.
The sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
For example, in the complex words ma-asing-hu Ie .
a-asik-k.
, ma-murhing-hu Ie .
a-murhik-k.
, ma-sintong-hu Ie .
a-sittok-k.
the sound changes from [U-.
The process of the sound change is due to assimilation of manner of articulation.
It takes place because the process involves a change in manner of articulating the consonants.
The sound [U] as the final sound of the root adjectives is assimilated with the sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu.
The assimilation of the two sounds generates sound [U] changes into .
and sound .
changes into .
siU] .
odoU] 'strange' AostupidAo ma-hu Ie maasinghu ma-hu Ie madodonghu .
alloU] AostammerAo ma-hu Ie mahallonghu .
abuU] AoangryAo ma-hu Ie majabunghu .
Aotoo strangeAo Aotoo stupidAo Aotoo stammerAo Aotoo angryAo Based on the data above, the word 'strange' as the meaning of the base adjective asing .
siU] is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-asing-hu .
a-asik-k.
'too strange'.
The word AostupidAo as the meaning of the base adjective dodong .
odoU] is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-dodong-hu .
a-dodok-k.
Aotoo stupidAo.
The word AostammerAo as the meaning of the base adjective hallong .
alloU] is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hallong-hu .
a-hallok-k.
Aotoo stammerAo.
The word AoangryAo as the meaning of the base adjective jabung .
abuU] is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-jabung-hu .
a-jabuk-k.
Aotoo angryAo.
The Alternating Form .
a-p.
The multiple affixations ma-hu has the alternating form .
a-p.
if the final sounds of the root adjectives are .
as discussed in the following parts.
1 The Root Adjectives End with the Sound .
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-p.
in its phonetic writing as the alternating form.
For example, the sound changes from .
in ma-ansim-hu Ie .
a-assip-p.
, ma-hohom-hu Ie .
a-hohop-p.
, ma-pidom-hu Ie .
aPublished iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 pidop-p.
is resulted in by assimilation of manner of articulation.
The sound .
as the final sound of the root adjectives is assimilated with the sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu as displayed as .
AosaltyAo ma-hu Ie maansimhu .
Aotoo saltyAo ma-hu Ie AotootoobeseAo .
AoobeseAo .
The word 'salty' as the meaning of the base adjective ansim .
is later used fully Aotoo calmAo ma-hu Ie mahohomhu .
AocalmAo .
Aotoo patientAo ma-hu Ie manemnemhu .
The word.
'salty' as theAopatientAo meaning of the base adjective ansim .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-ansim-hu .
a-assip-p.
'too salty'.
The word AoobeseAo as the meaning of the base adjective borombom .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-borombom-hu .
a-borobbop-p.
Aotoo obeseAo.
The word AocalmAo as the meaning of the base adjective hohom .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hohom-hu .
a-hohop-p.
Aotoo calmAo.
The word AopatientAo as the meaning of the base adjective nemnem .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-nemnem-hu .
a-nemnep-p.
Aotoo patientAo.
2 The Root Adjectives End with the Sound .
Some examples of the root adjectives end with the sound .
are ma-andap-hu Ie .
a-addapp.
, ma-hisap-hu Ie .
a-hisap-p.
, ma-majop-hu Ie .
a-majop-p.
In the examples, the sound .
of multiple affixations ma-hu changes into .
Therefore, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-p.
in its phonetic writing as the alternating form.
The process of changing one sound into another sound i.
, sound .
as the result of attaching the multiple affixations ma-hu to root adjectives is called regressive assimilation.
In the examples, the sounds .
are called morphophonemic alternation or allomorphs as presented below.
AoclearAo AogreedyAo AoproperAo AonearAo ma-hu Ie ma-hu Ie ma-hu Ie ma-hu Ie .
Aotoo clearAo Aotoo greedyAo Aotoo properAo Aotoo nearAo The word AoclearAo as the meaning of the base adjective andap .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-andap-hu .
a-addap-p.
Aotoo clearAo.
The word AogreedyAo as the meaning of the base adjective hisap .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hisap-hu .
a-hisap-p.
Aotoo greedyAo.
The word AoproperAo as the meaning of the base adjective majop .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-majop-hu .
a-majop-p.
Aotoo properAo.
The word 'near' as the meaning of the base adjective rohop .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-rohop-hu .
a-rohop-p.
'too nearAo.
The Alternating Form .
a-s.
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-s.
The sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu is assimilated to .
For example, the sound changes from .
in ma-ias-hu Ie .
a-ias-s.
, ma-banggas-hu Ie .
abaUgass.
, ma-derngassu Ie .
a-derUas-s.
because the sounds .
are similar in that both are fricatives.
Such process is called regressive assimilation.
More data are presented below.
aUga.
AocleanAo AopowerfulAo ma-hu Ie maiashu ma-hu Ie mabanggashu .
abaUgass.
Aotoo cleanAo Aotoo powerfulAo Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 .
erUa.
ma-hu Ie maderngashu ma-hu Ie mahirashu AonaughtyAo AostiffAo .
aderUass.
Aotoo naughtyAo Aotoo stiffAo Based on the data above, the word AocleanAo as the meaning of the base adjective ias .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-ias-hu .
a-ias-s.
Aotoo cleanAo.
The word AopowerfulAo as the meaning of the base adjective banggas .
aUga.
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-banggas-hu .
a-baUgas-s.
Aotoo powerfulAo.
The word AonaughtyAo as the meaning of the base adjective derngas .
erUa.
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-derngas-hu .
a-derUas-s.
Aotoo naughtyAo.
The word 'stiff' as the meaning of the base adjective hiras .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hiras-hu .
a-hiras-s.
'too stiff '.
The Root Adjectives End with the Sound .
If the final sound of the root adjectives is .
, the multiple affixations ma-hu is pronounced .
a-t.
The data below show that the sound .
changes into .
because of attaching the multiple affixations ma-hu to root adjectives end with sound .
The word formation results in the sound .
of the multiple affixations ma-hu changes into sound .
because of the assimilation process.
AoturbidAo AosickAo ma-hu Ie maabuthu ma-hu Ie mabernith.
almet AosoftAo ma-hu Ie madalmethu .
Aotoo turbidAo Aotoo sickAo Aotoo softAo Aotoo sickAo .
AosickAo ma-hu Ie mahansithu .
Based on the data above, the word 'turbid' as the meaning of the base adjective abut .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-abut-hu .
a-abut-t.
'too The word AosickAo as the meaning of the base adjective bernit .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-bernit-hu .
a-bernit-t.
Aotoo sickAo.
The word AosickAo as the meaning of the base adjective hansit .
is later used fully to indicate the lexical meaning of the excessive adjective ma-hansit-hu .
a-hassit-t.
Aotoo sickAo.
DISCUSSION
Based on the findings of this study, four alternating forms of the multiple affixations ma-hu are revealed because of the assimilation, i.
a-k.
, .
a-p.
, .
a-s.
, and .
a-t.
This idea agrees with NidaAos .
9: .
InkelasAos .
1: .
, and RamelanAos .
8: .
They argue that assimilation is a process in which one phoneme is replaced by another as the result of combining one morpheme with another where assimilation denotes a process by which phonemes are made similar.
The attachments of the multiple affixations ma-hu to the root adjectives in TB are inflectional The word formations using the multiple affixations ma-hu do not change both the syntactic category and the meanings of the already existing meanings of the root adjectives.
The meanings of the root adjectives are totally transferred become the meanings of the complex words.
The multiple affixations ma-hu as one the excessive markers in TB refines and gives extra grammatical information about the root adjectives.
It creates a different form of the same word Therefore, the multiple affixations ma-hu has no grammatical function because its attachments to root adjectives do not change the parts of speech.
In certain regions in Tano Batak AoBatak LandAo, a variant of the multiple affixations ma-hu is pa-hu as presented below:
ma-hu pa-hu Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 .
a-addap-p.
a-hisap-p.
a-majop-p.
a-rohop-p.
a-serep-p.
a-tahop-p.
too clear too greedy too proper too near too modest too sudden .
a-addap-p.
a-hisap-p.
a-majop-p.
a-rohop-p.
a-serep-p.
a-tahop-p.
too clear too greedy too proper too near too modest too sudden The grammatical meanings of the multiple affixations ma-hu in the complex words denote excessive adjectives.
The affix signifies excessive meaning than indicated by the root adjectives.
The lexical meanings of the complex words depend on the base meanings of the adjectives to which the ma-hu is attached.
The multiple affixations ma-hu creates variant forms of adjectives to conform to different functional roles in linguistics phenomena in TB.
As discussed in the findings above when sounds in TB appear next to each other, they have the possibility to affect each other's form.
This statement is relevant with BauerAos statement .
In English, for example, the negative morpheme .
n-] Ie .
m-] in impossible whereas .
n-] retains .
n-) in words like incongruous, insufficient, indecent, and inaudible.
The negative morpheme may change its form depending on the first sound of the following morpheme, e.
n-] Ie .
m-] in impossible .
n-] retains .
n-] in incongruous, insufficient, indecent, and inaudible The morpheme .
n-] has the alternating forms .
m-] and .
n-] in different but predictable environments because the alveolar nasal of .
n-] changes into a bilabial nasal .
before a morpheme beginning with a bilabial stop, e.
, .
in possible.
It changes into a velar nasal before a morpheme beginning with a velar stop .
as incongruous.
It is clear from the examples above that there is a change from one phoneme, i.
into another phoneme i.
in possible and .
incongruous, to make the phoneme .
more similar to the neighboring sound:
is similar to .
in that both are bilabial .
is similar to .
in that both are velar It is, in fact, quite common for phonemes as well as morphemes to change because of the influence of the environment.
In the examples quoted above, the morpheme .
n-] changes into .
m-] or .
n-] depending on the sound which immediately follows.
The forms .
m-] and .
n-] are called morpho-phonemic alternations or allomorphs of the same morpheme, predictable in terms of the environment, while .
n-] is considered the base of the morpheme.
CONCLUSION
This study contributes novel insights on alternating forms of the multiple affixations in TB.
That is to say that this study gives significant contribution on the morphological exploration of the multiple affixations ma-hu.
Key findings also include the fact that there are four allomorphs of the multiple affixations ma-hu, i.
, .
a-k.
, .
a-p.
, .
a-s.
, and .
a-t.
In some places, there is a form pa-hu as a variation of the multiple affixations ma-hu.
The grammatical functions are not found because the attachments of the multiple affixations ma-hu to root adjectives do not change the syntactic category.
The grammatical meanings, however, express excessive adjectives.
Whereas, the lexical meanings of the complex words depend on the meanings of the already existing words.
This study highlights the importance of documenting unwritten rules of the multiple Published iby iEnglish iLecturers iand iTeachers iAssociation i(ELTA) Copyright iA i2025, i iauthors i Journal iof iApplied iLinguistics i(JoAL), iVol.
No.
I2, iJanuary i i2025ie-ISSN i2809-1922, ip-ISSN i2809-1914 affixations ma-hu in TB as a regional language becomes written grammar rules because written documents of TB are extremely limited.
However, the results are still encouraging and this study recommends future studies of regional languages to replicate this model or the approach.
Future insights should aim to benefit linguistic treasures of regional languages in particular and universal grammar in general.
REFERENCES