DETERMINER PHRASES IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY MALAY

Abstract

Nineteenth-century Malay has nominal structures with a variety of constituent order. This paper aims to discuss the forms of nominal structures and their basic patterns. In addition, this paper is going to answer the question of whether nominal structures should be analyzed as determiner phrases or noun phrases. In this study, the X-bar theory is applied to discuss the constituent structure of nominal constructions. This study used the data of an Indonesian short story written in 1873 published in the book “Nona Koelit Koetjing” (Damono et.al., 2005). The result of the study shows that nominal constructions with a demonstrative occurring in the initial position is the basic constituent order. The nominal constructions in this language should be analyzed as determiner phrases since a determiner has a category different from any other elements of nominal constructions