PLURALITY

(Bima Surya Nugraha)

A. Introduction Plural word is a word that represents more than one. Plurality is a concept of quantity. It represents a value of more than one. Typically, it applies to nouns. In English, plurality is usually formed with the addition of: -s : books, chairs, chats, -es : boxes, bushes Some plural forms require more noticeable changes in word structure. Most words ending in y are pluralized with ies (ladies, cherries). Some words ending in f are pluralized with ves (leaves, calves). Words ending in x are pluralized with ces (index-indices). Some words have the same form both single and plural (deer, dozen, fish). Indonesian (bahasa indonesia) has the same concept of plurality with English that represents a value of more than one, but it has different rules. Plurals are expressed by means of reduplication, but only when the plural is not implied in the context. Thus "person" is orang, and "people" is orang-orang, but "a thousand people" is seribu orang, as the use of a numeral (i.e. seribu) renders it unnecessary to mark the plural form. However, not all reduplicated words indicate plural forms of a word with many words naturally expressed in reduplicated form. Examples of these include biri-biri (sheep), kupu-kupu (butterfly) which can imply both a singular or plural meaning, depending on the context or numeral used. By contrast, there are also some types of plural words that are expressed by reduplication of a similar sounding (but essentially different) word. In these cases the general sound of a word/phrase is repeated, but the initial letter of the repeated word is changed. A common example of this is sayur-mayur (not sayur-sayur) meaning "vegetables" (plural). Another useful word to remember when pluralizing in Indonesian is beberapa,para, banyak which mean "some." For example one may use beberapa pegunungan to describe a series of mountain ranges, and beberapa kupukupu to describe (plural) butterflies.

B. Analysis of plurality found in text No 1 SL: heart ventricles TL: bilik jantung Analysis Ventricles is the plural form of ventricle. The plurality is shown by adding morphem s (ventricle + s). In Indonesian, plural is usually expressed by manner of reduplication, but only when it is not implied in the context. In this case, the word ventricles is translated into bilik. Although bilik is not plural form, this translation is accurate. It has the equivalent meaning. In this context, the word bilik in phrase bilik jantung can represent a value of single or plural. So that, we can translate ventricles into bilik or bilik-bilik, both of them are accurate. 2 SL: several factors TL: beberapa faktor Several factors - beberapa faktor In SL, the plurality is shown by the word several and morpheme s in word factors (factor+s). In the target language, the plurality is only shown by the word beberapa. This translation is accurate. Both SL and TL have the equivalent meaning, the message is transferred well. This translation is also acceptable and readable although there is a difference between Indonesian and English form. This difference is caused by the different rule of plurality system. English has concord system, but Indonesia has no that system.

In the case of concord system, Madeline Semmelmeyer in his grammatical book give an illustration below: This variety ---- these varieties This kind ------ these kinds In this illustration this is singular and variety is singular, these is plural and varieties is plural. There must be an agreement. In indonesia, to make a plurality is only allowed to use one way. To show a plurality we can use the word suach as: beberapa, para, banyak. Or morphologically we can use a reduplication manner. It will be wrong if we translate it into beberapa faktor-faktor. So, this translation is accurate, acceptable, and readable. 3 SL: in the arteries TL: pada pembuluh arteri The word arteries is translated into pembuluh arteri. There is a shift from word to phrase, this shift is acceptable. But this translation is not accurate because the translator translates the plural form into the single form. In my opinion, the word arteries should be translated in the plural form. It must be pembuluh-pembuluh arteri.