Grammatical Alignment in the Pasir Pengaraian Dialect of Riau Malay: A Typological Study Based on the Pivot System
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E6/2026-26Keywords:
grammatical alignment, syntactic typology, pivot system, S/A pivot, nominative-accusative, Riau MalayAbstract
This study aims to describe and determine the grammatical alignment system at the syntactic level of Riau Malay, Pasir Pengaraian Dialect (RMPPD). Framed within linguistic typology, the analysis focuses on the syntactic treatment of three core arguments: S (intransitive subject), A (trowitive agent), and P (trossitive patient). Adopting Dixon's Pivot System framework, this study examines mechanisms of coreference and noun phrase (NP) deletion in complex clauses. The research employs a qualitative descriptive approach, drawing on data from native speakers of RMPPD elicited through controlled elicitation techniques targeting eleven possible interclausal coreferential relations. The findings show that direct NP deletion is acceptable only when the deleted argument occupies the S or A function. In contrast, the P argument does not enjoy such syntactic privilege unless it undergoes structural changes, such as passivization or topicalization, which promote P to subject status. These results demonstrate that RMPPD operates an S/A pivot system and can therefore be classified as a nominative-accusative language at the syntactic level.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Khairina Nasution, Rozanna Mulyani, Khairawati (Author); Nurlela (Translator); Nursukma Suri (Author)
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