The evolution of ber- verbs in Indonesian and English: A morphological and translation analysis

This study aims to investigate how Indonesian verbs prefixed with ‘ber-’ are translated into English, focusing on their semantic and grammatical transformations as part of a broader evolution of verbs across the two languages. It revealed how ‘ber-’ verbs, shaped by affixation in Indonesian, evolved into structurally different forms in English, reflecting each language’s grammatical tendencies. Using a descriptive qualitative method, the research analyzed a bilingual corpus derived from the Indonesian fairy tale ‘Burung Hantu dan Putri Rajawali’ and its English translation ‘The Owl and the Eagle’s Daughter’. The data were collected through purposive sampling, comprising all ‘ber-’ prefixed verbs in the source text. These verbs were analyzed based on their morphological forms, syntactic roles, and semantic shifts in translation. The analysis shows that most ‘ber-’ verbs, such as ‘berpikir’ (thought), ‘bertemu’ (met), and ‘berjuang’ (struggled), were translated using various English verb forms, including past tense, gerunds, and progressive aspect. Some verbs, such as ‘berterima kasih’ (grateful) and ‘berhadapan’ (ventured out), demonstrated more distinctive shifts, indicating cultural or idiomatic adaptation. Reduplicated forms like ‘berkomat-kamit’ (muttered) and ‘berjam-jam’ (for many hours) emphasized repeated or prolonged action, while the verb ‘bekerja’ illustrated phonological alteration of the prefix. These findings highlight the translator’s strategies in rendering ber-verbs not only semantically but also functionally accurate in English, revealing the complex relationship of morphology, syntax, and meaning in cross-linguistic verb evolution.