|
One of the differences between the expression of the language aspects of English and Indonesian is related to the definiteness and indefiniteness (henceforth: DFS and IDFS) phenomenon. Lyons (1995:0) sates that the natural languages express the DFS and IDFS phenomenon by using several semantic categories. However, the expression of the phenomenon in most languages is not as a well-defined system, with clear-cut categories and black and white distinctions, as that in English (Chesterman, 1991:4; Lyons, 1977:179). According to Lyons (1977) English might use the definite article the in the definite noun phrase (henceforth: NP). Proper names and personal pronouns also express the English definite NP Then, the English indefinite NP is usually peceded by the indefinite article a/an. The Indonesi_an DFS's syntactic devices include demonstratives itu/ini and personal pronoun -nya, while the IDFS's uses noun classifiers (seorang for human, seekor for animal, and sebuah for the rest) (Dardjowidjojo, 1983:194_245). Alwi et al. (1998a:44) specifies the DFS""s syntactic devices of the parts of Indonesian syntax, namely, artrcles (si/ sang, yang), demonstratives (itu/ini), proper names (Rizky, Rizka, Kharin), personal pronouns (I, my, you, your), or referring nouns (I3apak, Ibu, Saudara). Thus, those devices vary, and my study suggests to use zero (4)), too. The analogical mistakes made by the Indonesian students who study English were due to the fact that the forms and the meanings of the syntactical devices in English and Indonesian are not equivalent (Dardjowidjojo, 1983:194_245; cf. Mansyur, 1993). The definite and indefinite NP are two referring expessions in the referential system; the others are the general, opaque, and generic references (Lyons, 1977:177-197). The role of the definite and indefinite NP are more basic than those other referring expressions. Thus, my study focuses on the definite and indefinite NP which entail the discussion of those other referring expressions, but not vice versa. |
