The Comparison of Adjective in Indonesian , Javanese , and Sundanese Languages : a Syntactic Typology Analysis

Abstract The main focus of this study is to describe the order of degree word and adjective (AdjDeg) or (DegAdj) in three languages; Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese. Specifically, the study looks at the similarities and differences of typological syntactic features in three languages. This research used descriptive qualitative research by using data which belong to Austronesian language families. The results showed that (1) the similarities and differences of the order of modifying phrase in Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese which have different features in order of word degree and adjective, some of the compositions are (AdjDeg), or (DegAdj), and both of them; (2) the similarities at the level of comparison, the composition that often occur is ‘lebih + adjective+ dari’ in Indonesian language, ‘luweh + adjective + soko’ in Javanese language, or ‘leuwih + adjective + ti’ in Sundanese language; (3) at the level of superlative, the similarities of order of degree word in Indonesian language is ‘paling + adjective’, Javanese is ‘subject + paleng+ adjective + soko + object’ , Sundanese is ‘subject + pohara + adjective + na + ti + object. The difference, In Indonesian ‘Subject + ter + adjective’, Javanese language ‘subject + paleng + adjective’, Sundanese language, ‘subject +pang + adjective + na’; (4) On equative level, the similarities of equative, Indonesian language is ‘Subject + sama + Adjective + nya’, Javanese language, ‘subject + podho + adjective + e’, Sundanese is ‘subject + sarua + adjective + na’. The differences, Indonesian language, ‘Subject + Se + adjective’, Javanese language, ‘subject + adjective + e + podho’, Sundanese ‘subject + adjective + na + sarua’. This research can be used as a reference in advanced research related to the typology in order of degree word and adjective with data from different language in Indonesian archipelago.


INTRODUCTION
The language in the world is grouped by features and characteristics that differ from one another.Syntactically, the languages of the world have different features that can be grouped such as; subject, object and verb.
Greendberg in Mallison and Blake (1981: 5) said that language can be grouped based on basic order, subject, Object, and Verb (SOV).He proposed a typology which called as typology of word order that concluded there are 6 groups in forming a sentence pattern, namely SOV, SVO, VSO, VOS, OVS and OSV.Mallison and Blake (1981: 1-3) says that typology is the grouping of language based on the features of words and also syntactically.
Specifically, this study will examine the dominant patterns contained in Indonesian syntactic structure; S-V-O.In syntactic typology, particularly the degree of order word and adjectives of Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese have the features contained that belongs to the Austronesian language.As Comries (1989: 86-87), word order typology has played a major rule in the development of language typology, in particular, the major constituent of the clause (subject, object, and verb).DK Adiwinata in Fatimah et.al (1994: 122) says that adjective is a word that gives the feature to noun or word that answer the question 'how'.It is also said that the function of adjective related to the position or function of adjective in the sentence, Fatimah et.al. (1994: 129).Alwi et.al (2003: 171) says that adjective is featured by the quality degree and comparison of noun which is modifying.Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns, Sargeant (2007: 32).Frank (1972: 102) said that adjective is a modifier that has grammatically property of comparison.It is often identified by special derivational endings or by special adverbial modifiers that precede it.
Adjective acts as a heads of a variety of different phrase structures, Sneddon (1992: 177).Degree words are words with meanings like 'very', 'more', or 'little' that modify the adjective to indicate the degree to which properly denoted by the adjective.Degree words are traditionally referred to adverbs, though in many languages the words degrees do not belong to the same word class as adverbs.Degree words in Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese languages have variations and features which different with another language.The previous study of Dryer showed that there are some orders of adjective and degree of word order based on 481 languages in the world.His study showed that word degree precedes adjective (DegAdj) as a dominant order in 227 languages, word degree which followed by adjective (AdjDeg) in 192 languages, and both orders occur with neither order dominant in 62 languages.According to Dryer, geographical distribution of word degree which precedes the adjective is a dominant type, with very little exception in Europe and Asia, except in the Middle east and Southeast Asia.
The previous study of Sneddon (1992) showed that; fifteen word degrees precede the noun, four that follow noun, and one that either precede or follow.
Based on those previous studies, this article tries to continue the research by collecting data from the third closed languages in Indonesia: Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese languages.The gap from the previous study that can be traced to fill this research by taking a research to know the order of modifying adverbs, comparative, superlative, and equative from Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese.Those languages have some similarities and differences in order of degree word and adjective.The researcher thinks that it is very interesting to know the similarities and differences in order of degree word and adjective of those languages.The investigation was conducted to know the order of degree word; (AdjDeg), (DegAdj), or both of them in those languages in comparative, superlative, and equative level.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research used descriptive qualitative research.The researcher described the order of word degree and adjective in syntactical typology especially in Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese languages.Data from this research were taken from writing text and oral language from native language.The data taken by interviewing some people from Java and Sunda.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. The Similarities in Order of Degree Word and Adjective in Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese Language Some languages like Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese have similarities in order degree word and adjective.The similarities can be seen from the modifying phrase, comparative, superlative, and equative in order of degree word of Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese language.

Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese Languages
The adjective can be preceded by one of modifying adverbs.These show the quality indicated by the adjective.There are some similarities of modifying phrase of Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese languages have variations in degree of word order and adjective.The similarities are on the position of adjective that is preceded by modifying adverbs.Adverbs that can modify phrase of adjective in those languages are variatives.There are some modifying phrase like 'sangat, amat, terlalu, terlampau, sungguh, cukup, relatif, serba, agak, makin, semakin, kian, tambah, bertambah, begitu, demikian, sedemikian, begini', in Javanese language can be seen as 'banget, bener-bener, pol, tambah, tambah-tambah, mandan', in Sundanese language can be seen as follow 'meuni, rada'.
The following data will show the similarities of order of degree word and adjective from those languages.Let see the data below,

Data 1
Beban ini sungguh berat (Indonesian) Beban iki bener-bener abot (Javanese) This load is truly heavy (English) On data (1) above, the degree order and adjective in Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese have different variations, like 'sungguh, benerbener, and meuni'.Based on that data, it can be seen that the order of degree word from those languages are same.The adjective of those languages are preceded by adverbs (sungguh, bener-bener, meuni, and truly).The words modify adjectives contained in four languages, 'berat', 'abot', 'beurat', and 'heavy'.
In above data, modifying phrase contained in Indonesian is 'sungguh'.
This adverb modify to adjective 'berat' for the subject 'beban ini'.It means that 'beban ini' as subject is described as something that is truly heavy.In Javanese language the adverbs that is used is 'bener-bener'.This adverb modify to adjective 'abot' for subject 'beban iki'.It means that 'beban iki' as subject is described as something that is truly heavy.In Sundanese language, adverb 'meuni' is used to modify the adjective 'beurat' for subject 'beban ieu'.It means that 'beban ieu' as subject is described as something that is truly heavy.
The similarities of those languages of modifying phrase can be used for emphasize the subject as seen below: Data 5 Daging ini agak mahal sedikit (Indonesian) Dageng iki rodok larang sitik (Javanese) Daging ieu rada mahal sakedik (Sundanese) This meat is somewhat expensive (English) On data (5) above, it can be seen the similarities of the order degree word and adjective for emphasize.The modifying phrase is used for emphasizing by placing order degree word and adjective 'agak+ adjective + sedikit' in Indonesian.It is the same in Javanese language that the emphasizing can be done by adding modifying phrase in front of and behind adjective like 'rodok + adjective + sitik'.In Sundanese, the emphasis can be done by adding a modifying phrase in front of and behind adjective 'rada + adjective + sakedik'.Meanwhile in English the modifying phrase 'somewhat' is placed before adjective 'expensive'.It means that the subject described as something that is somewhat expensive.
In Indonesian language, adverb 'agak' and 'sedikit' is used to modify the adjective 'mahal' for subject 'daging ini'.In Javanese language, adverb 'rodok' and 'sitik' is used to modify the adjective 'larang' for subject 'dageng iki'.In Sundanese language, adverb 'rada' and 'sakedik' is used to modify the adjective 'larang' for subject 'dageng iki'.Structurally, the position of modifying phrase to modify adjective is located after and before adverb to show the emphasis for the subject.The position of that adjective in those languages is same.

Sundanese Languages
Comparative adjective is used to compare one thing to another thing or one person with another person.There are similarities which can be found from those languages.In Indonesian language, comparative adjective is formed by placing the word 'lebih or kurang + adjective + dari' or 'lebih or kurang + adjective + daripada' in Indonesian language.In Javanese language, it is formed by adding 'luweh + adjective + tekan', or 'luweh + adjective + karo', or 'kurang + adjective + tekan'.In Sundanese language, it can be formed by adding 'leuwih + adjective + ti'.
Let see the data below related to the similarities of comparative adjective in those languages: