Papuan Malay pronominals: forms and functions

Abstract

Papuan Malay, the easternmost variety of Malay/Indonesian, has received even less attention than other nonstandard varieties of Malay/ Indonesian. Papuan Malay has innovative forms and functions for its pronominals that have not been described in detail for other varieties of Malay/Indonesian, though they are present over a wide area. We examine both the bound and the free pronominal forms, describing the status of the different members in each paradigm as they are used with different functions such as possessor, subject, and object. In addition to noting these different uses, we discuss a trivalent construction in the language with an exceptional use of pronominal forms, and propose an ongoing path of grammaticalization that can account for it.