TOBA BATAK LANGUAGE MORPHOLOGICAL SYSTEM: A GENERATIVE TRANSFORMATIONAL STUDY

The objective of this study is to investigate morphological system of Toba Batak language from the view of generative transformational study. The major issue in this microlinguistic study is word formations through the processes of affixation, reduplication, and compounding. Most studies done morphologically are structural based theory which explore language phenomena unsatisfactorily. For instance, in Indonesian language the following forms are never found: *ambilan “something taken”, *berpesawat “go by aeroplane”, *keobatan “being dead or sick because of consuming too much medicine”. We, on the other hand, will find the words kiriman “something sent”, bersepeda “go by bicycle”, keracunan “being dead or sick because of consuming something poisonous”. In Toba Batak language, for example, we will not find the words *lehonan “a give”, *marsintua “visit a church functionary to consult something”, *mamiso “use a knife to cut something”. Whereas the forms tongosan “something sent”, mardatu “go to a shaman to ask for help”, and manakkul “use a hoe to do the farm” are actual words that have been used by Toba Batak language speakers. Based on the Toba Batak language phenomena above, the most relevant theory to be applied to treat such problems and the like exhaustively from descriptive to explanatory adequacy is generative morphology. In so doing, this study rests on the theory of generative morphology proposed by Halle (1973), Aronoff (1976), Scalise (1984), and Dardjowidjojo (1988). The theory requires four separated components, they are: (1) List of Morphemes, (2) Word Formation Rules, (3) Filter, and (4) Dictionary. Generative morphology has predictive power to generate actual words and potential words. The method of the study that will be applied is qualitative descriptive method, that is, a kind of linguistic method to describe language phenomena naturally without manipulation. This research will be conducted in 4 regencies in North Sumatra, they are: (1) Samosir Regency, (2) Toba Samosir Regency, (3) Humbang Hasundutan Regency, and (4) North Tapanuli Regency. There are three types of data that will be collected in this study, they are: (1) oral, (2) written, and (3) intuition. Oral data will be collected by observing, interviewing, listening attentively, and chatting with the informants. Written data will be originated from story books in Toba Batak language and bible in Toba Batak language. Intuition data will be based on the writer’s intuition because the writer is a native Toba Batak language speaker. The data will be analyzed using equal and distributional methods.