On Synonymous Lexeme Combination in Indonesian

This article deals with synonymous lexeme combinations with the attention focus on the category, semantic relations, order patterns, and language origin of the combined elements. The data gathering is carried out through introspective methods by evoking intuitively the writer’s ability as an Indonesian native speaker. After being tested empirically with other native speakers, the collected data are further classified according to the four problems becoming the research attention focus. By applying several analytical techniques, such as permutation, substitution, extension, etc., it is found that the combined constituents can be referential and non-referential categories. The referential combination can be between nouns and adjectives, and the non-referential categories can be between conjunctions and prepositions, copula and copula, and particle and particle. Concerning the constituent’s semantic relations, the elements being combined can be between containing more intensive and less intensive, polite and less polite, literary and non-literary, wider and narrower meanings, dialectal and non-dialectal, and other types of semantic relation. Meanwhile, there is still no clear rule underlying the combination order pattern except the inclination of the phonologically longer syllabic constituents to be placed in final positions. Finally, the synonymous couplings can be built by Indonesian and Indonesian, Indonesian and Arabic, Indonesian and Javanese, Javanese and Javanese, and Arabic and Arabic lexeme.