WRITER : 0tto Steinmayer.

DRAWING : AugustineAnggat Ganjing

 Bio of the author:
tto Steinmayerwasborn in
USA.in 1956
Connecticut.
and from high school on has
studied classicallanguagesand
literature. He recei'red his
Ph,D. in classicsfrom Yale Uni-
1985and the next year took his first trip to
|alai |ako'Iban:
A Basic
Grammar
of the
Iban Language
of Sarawak
Otto Steinmayer
(-q,
e
Drawingsby
AugustineAnggatGanjing
X(XXXXXXXXXXrcKX
Klasik PublishingHouse,
Kuching,Sarawak,1999.
 Publishedby:
Duotcarro to thememoryof threepeoplewho
KLASIK PUBLISHING HOUSE loved language and literature:
P. O. Box 37, Kuching.
My late mother-in-law,
First published 1999
Hbi anak Muda,,
Copyright @ 1999Otto Steinmayer
a poet and a lover of others' poetry a lover of
Illustrations copyright @ 1999Agustine Anggat Ganjing
music and nafure, and herselfan artist. Shedid not
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced, know how to read or write and that did not matter at
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or all in the fineness of her sensibility -
by any means, without the prior permission in writing of
Henry Gana Ngadi,
the author and of KLASIK PUBLISHING HOUSE
as Iban an Iban man that ever was. His untimely and
ISBN: 983-9234-06-8
tragic death,just before he would have completed his
Distributed by: doctoral dissertatiorydeprived the Iban people and the
STARCOMPANY world of a great scholar,and myself of a dear friend,
30 Main Bazaar,
and-
93000Kuching, Sarawak.
fohn Herington
Printed by:
Professor of Greek at Yale University, my mentor and
SEEHUA DAILY NEWS BHD. friend, who proved in his life that if you have a heart,
Lot 1125,Sectiorr66, deep and minute learning does not harm, but give
Jalan Kemajuary Pending lndushial Area, greater keennessand joy to the appreciation of
93450Kuching,
literarure.
Sarawak, Malavsia.

dl,Bmsdazs iOriry
x<iv' e?a'itnb ygov'-
-Pindar
 Thble of Contents
Introduction 4
Acknowledgernents
The Iban Language 9
Lcaming the langaage 9
The sounds of Iban 10
Vowels l0
Consomnts ll
Tbble of consonants 12
Everydnypronancialion and rapid speech t4
The Nature ofthe lban language 15
Two intportant parameters l7
Copulativesenlencesand the omissianof the verb 'tn be.' 20
Another lban preference A
Parts of Spech E
Nouns 26
Possession,th possessiveposition 26
One or many 26
Gender? ,,f

Numerical classifierc 28
A historical digressinn,theprcfixes ke- and ge- 31
Agent and absftactnouns, the pref.x pe- 34
Adjectives 35
More on noun plus notunor adjectivein the genilive positi.on. 36
Compounds 37
Reduplication 37
Partial reduplication 39
Adverbs 39
Comparison of adiectives 4l
Theprefir sa-lse- 42
Body Language 43
Pronouns 44
45
Reflexivepronouns 47
Demonstrative pmnouns 47
'Some' 4E
Indefinite pronouns 4E
Distributive adjectives 50
Verbs 50
 Uerb-toots:transitive, intrsnsitive, and requiring cornplement 51
The active verb 5t Enggai, '.10n'lx'ant' 85
The transitiveyerb 53 Anang 86
The verb without object (intransitive) 5!
Bedaulapin 86
The oreflx beJme- Yes! 87
56
'Irregular' verbs 59 Questions 87
Theprefix te- 61 Commands E9
Tiansformations Prepositions 90
62
The causativeverb, sumx -fra Bnggau 90
62
Tbansitiveto intransitive 64 . Prepositinnsof Spate and motion 9l
Nouns and adjectivesto verbs 64 Uher prepositions 92
Active Verb to CausativeVerb More on kena' 93
65
The prefix De&e- Adverbs of position and direction 94
66
Theprefi.xbete- Co4iunctions and clauses 95
66
Examples of transformations with Izboh \all, 67 'And' 95
Thepossive 67 Simple and complexsentences 96
The 'sofi' passive 70 Coordinating conjunctions 96
Tense 70 Subordinating conjunctions 97
Prsenttense Relative clauses,lr' and &e 100
7l
Simplepast 72 'That': Reportedspeech 101
Future. the verb delra, Nanative, thc verb ko' lo2
73
Perfect En i'('If') ..Conditions 103
74
Past progressiye,the ,irnperfect' tense 74 Word order 1M
Relationship of tensesin context Other adverbs, intensifiers, particls and interjections 104
Further examples 75 Interjections to7
Bisi': its useas an auxiliary and as efistential Ellipsis, rleaving things out' r08
76
Nyau and JadilNyadi 'to become'/,isbecome' How to addresspeople 10E
77
OtherAuxilisries Wonlsof rehtionship 109
77
Verbplus verb BeingPolite 110
78
Verb plus verb to describe manner 79 Dirty words ltz
Verb plus verb to exprresspu{xtse Iban Literature 113
80
Verb plus verb as the origin of Iban prepositions Bibliography 115
80
The verb which explains an adjectiye Appendix tl7
E1 . Tbble1: Numemls
The yerb as noun 82 tl1
The mood of verbs Table2: T"rme 11E
E2
NegatiYes Titble3: Weightsand measures t?,0
83
Erula' Table4: Grammatical Tbrmsin English and lban t?,0
83
Nadui E3 TA e 5: Things to Eat lzl
Ukai Index 123
u

Introduction
ESCRIBINGa languageis like going into a large,energetically
lived-in house-since Iban is a Borneolanguagelet's call it a
longhouse-and pasting labels on eyerything in it, from the
jumble in the.radau (attic) to the food in the dapur (kjtchen) so that a sfiangcr
can come in and quickly find out how the owners operate their ,machine
for living.'
I've been in and out of Sarawak thirteen years and been three years settled
here, and though my wife is Iban, and my son is bilingual, l still haven't
gotten anywhere near the bottom of the place, and in particular, to the
bottom of the language. Some old Brooke official said that Iban was the
world's easiestlanguage to learn how to speakbadly. Those Brooke officers
were unencumbered by visa requirements and some of them were in the
country for decades. They knew that Iban was a rich and profound
language, and so could speak ironically like this. In writing this grammar,
I feel like an aeronautical engineer who knows how a plane works but
sticks to flying kites.
Iban has a very large vocabulary, full of the most subtle shadesofmeaning.
Its gramrnar appears simple to someone used to tle headachesof endless
tables of verb-forms and rules of syntax, but Iban grammar is no simpler
than that of ancient Greek. If leaming Greek requires you to memorize
each verb in its 180 inflected forms; Iban asks somethinsno less difficult.
Where Greek, say, makes the grammar of any stateirent completely
expticit in the forms the words take, the grammatical fullness of lban is
realized in the interaction between language and context, in the choice of
words, in subtle shifts of emphasis and linguistic gesture.
Attention to context, gesture, and nuance is vital for the understandins of
any language. I am not making a hostile antithesis between spoken -ald
written language. Iban also has a literary language. in prose as well as
verse. However, Iban literary and spoken modes exist together much more
comfortably than in westem languages, for the reason that until the second
half of this century none of geat quantity of Iban literature was ever
written down. Iban was once wholly, and for the most part remains. an oral
tradition. This means that on usage of words and grammar , there is no
authority apart from the people who actually speak lban. you have to ask
somebody. Ard to ask somebody you haye to be there, so leaming Iban
means you learn and sympathize with Iban life and thought. In nry
opinion, since we are all human beings, this is not asking too much of
someone who feels like making the attempt.
A
The oneIban grammaravailabletodayis atechnicallinguistic analysis,not
very useful to people who are not themselvesprofessionallinguists. I
have put togettror this Jalai Jaka.'Iban 'the way of Iban speech,'to help
the more seriouslyinterestedoutsideiunderstand thebasicgramniarof the
Iban language. The pagesthat follow oughtto be sufficient to allow lhe
leamer quickly to getinto theflow ofday-to-dayspeech.All tanguagesare
deep;but peopleleamto speakasto swimby wadingin at the shallowend.
My aim is to hold the beginner'shanduntil he or shelearnsto float, and
then castthem offjoyfully to cavort in theseaof words.
Ib:rn oral literature-much ofit recordedin print andreadyto be enjoyed
by the modem silent reader---offersendlesstreasuresto thosewho love
poetry. Iban literary languageis very difficult. I find it hardrthanPindar
(reputedthe mostferociouslydifficult ancientGreekpoet)becausein this
late era, fewer and fewer peopleare still alive who feel at easewith the
literary and ritual language,and so far very Iban scholarshave had the
opportunity to edit and comment on the epics of their ancestors.The
meaningsof many words of poetry are recordedonly in the memoriesof
Iban singers.
I am offering this presentwork, therefore,partly in the hope that some
young person-Iban or foreign----oflinguistic talent, love for literature,
enthusiasmfor Ibanculture,and,aboveall, energyanddetermination,may
be aided to learn Iban and be inspired to give us the scholarly helps
necessaryto keep Iban literature alive, vigorous, and diverse into the
future; and partly to encouragetravellers to try to talk to the natives
('native' hasalwaysbeena goodword in Sarawak)ih their own language.
I alsohopethat lbanswho wantto leammoreabouttleir own language,or
aboutEnglish,will find herea guidethatmakesthemechanicsof grammar
easyandpleasant.
Although the study of gammar, even at an elementarylevel, is not as
commonasit usedto be, I am countingon the fact that mostof the people
who pick up this book will understandthe basic terms and conceits of
grammar,for example,what's a subject,what an object,what an adverbis.
If you're in doubt, any good English dictionary shouldgive you the
meaningof a term.
I havedeliberatelywritten this bookasa grammar,not asa 'teachyourself'
type course. I have not included passagesfor practice or exercises.I
assumethat the personwho wantsto use this book is alreadyin Sarawak,
or will be cominghereshortly. My main.object,Reader,is to give you the
essentials,so that you can build a basic skill andthen add to it by talking
with thepeoplearoundyou'. For the samereasonI havenot tried to write a
complctc grammar of the language;I stressthat this is not a complete
lrcatment,nor do I claim it to be complete,nor evenvery methodical.
Thc mostaccurateway to describeIban would be in Iban and on its own
tcrms, even at the cost of importing technical words and of some
awkwardnessin expression.Sincethat is beyondme,I will explain much
aboutIban accordingto how it differs from English. Iban word order and,
in greatpart, its syntaxare so much like what English speakersconsider
'natural' that I haveomitted any detailedexplanation,which would get us
into fine points and away ftom the aim of getting you to talk. I have
arrangedmy gmmmarthus: first I talk aboutthesoundsand pronunciation
of lban; thenI discussthe natureof the Iban languageandits 'parameters';
then I proceedfollowing the variouscategoriesof parts of speech,under
which mostpoints of syntaxcanbe convenientlyexplained.
My translations of the exampleswill often seem'stilted.' I havebeen
pedanticquite deliberatelyin order to illustrate asclearly aspossiblehow
Iban grammarworts by trying to imitate it with Englishwords. However,
I mustwam you that thougha stiltedtranslationmay lay barethe grammar,
it can in no way convey the fitnessand eleganceof the Iban itself. The
rough and pidgin-like quality of the English illustrations doesnol imply
that this is what Iban soundslike to an Iban speaker.Quite the opposite:
it meansthat English lacksthe gramrnaticalresourcespeculiarto Iban that
Iban usesso fruitfully, that English andIban arc different.
Everyonewho studiesIban should get a copy of Anthony Richards'An
Ibqn-EnglishDictiozary, republishedin paperbackby PenerbitFajarBakti,
PetalingJaya. Not only is Richardsvery thoroughandcomprehensive, he
also includesexamplesof the way eachword is used,amountingin all to
thousands,andhis dictionaryis in greatpart an encylopediaof thingsIban.
I owe him the greatestdebt in my own acquisitionof Iban and for help in
writing this. When I take a definition or example from Richards'
dictionary,I mark it with the letter R.
A word on spelling. SeveralIban scholarsI haveshowtrthis grammarto in
draft haveurgedme to conform my spelling of Iban words to the system
proposedin l 995by the Majlis Adat-Istiadat.After carefulthought,I have
believeit is bestfor me not to follow this advice. First of all, I havemade
extensiveuse of Richards' Iban-English Dictionary in writing this
grammar. I hope and expect that anyoneusing my grammarwill rcfer
constantly to Richards,and if I were to alter his spellings you, reader,
would be left confusedand hunting for words. Richards' dictionary is
thc bcstavailableto thepresent,the only dictionarythatgivesgrammatical
cxplanationsand examplesof usage.For this reasonI considerhis
6
dictionary, as a dictionary, to possessmore authority than anything yet
published. Second,while the revisedspellingsystemmay,when it is
established,benefitnative speakersof Iban, who know, for example,that
theu prescribedby thenew systemat theendsof wordsis to bepronounced
sometimes [o] sometimes Io?], sometimes [u], andsometimes Iu?], (as
in nmto,jale', tuju,paku'), the non-nxive speakerneedsan explicit guide
to the subtletiesof Iban sounds.
It is a hardtask to describea languagewhenyou try not to leavetoo many
gapingholesandugly errorsin thdtdescription.In onesense,my work has
beencircular. In order to leam lban, I neededto leam its words; but in
orderto leamthewords,I neededto leamlban! As mucheffort asRichards
put into his dictionary,he did not get everything,and sinceI haverarely
found someonewho could explain a word to me without greatstruggles,I
had to rely mainly on my own wit to divine rnany meanings. I found it
useful to try to shed some light on the grammar of Iban and work at
learning the langubgefrom the other side. Yet without the intimate
knowledgeof words andusagethat comesfrom hearinga languagefrom
birth, I canonly get so far, andI havegottenthere.
TherefbreI leavethis grammarat the point I havebroughtit, andhopethat
my errors and over-simplificationswill rouse Ibans who love their
languageto point out whereI got it wrong. Praiseis soothingto the ego,
but criticism is whatgetsgoodwork done. I welcomeall commentson this
effort, and if anyonecan core.t me, he or shecan be surethat additions
andconectionswill appear,with acknowledgiment,in the next edition, if
this book is happyenoughto be reprinted.
Acknowledgements
I wish to give the first placein my thanksto Mr Drahmanbin Haji Amit,
District Officer Lundu District at the time I began to write, for his
kindness,couriesy,andeffectivenessin gettingmea spacein which I could
work, without which I could haveaccomplishednothing. Equal Fatitude
goesto Uniyersiti MalaysiaSarawak(IJNIMAS) whoseappointingme as
Honourary ResearchFellow with the Institute for East Asian Studies
has madeit ynssiblefor me to live here. hof. Michael kigh, Director
of the IEAS, hasbeenvery generouswith his supportandadvice.
Y.B. Jimmy Donald, Member of Parliamentfor Sri Aman, is Sarawak's
mostlearned,diligent and distinguishedIban man of letters. Y.B. Jimmy
has publishedmany books of Iban poetry, and his English Keling of the
RaisedWorMis requiredreadingfor anyonwho will enterthe Ibanmythic
world. He gaveme commentsandcriticism whosevalueis far too sreatfor
me to estimate. I value equallydearly the constantattentlonand
encouragement he gave me, the knowledgehe sharedwith me so
generously,andthe enthusiasmhe showedfor this project.
Mr. JimbunTawai also performedme the kindncssof readinga draft and
pointingout manythingsI shouldconect.
Themanresponsiblefor theillustrationsto thisbook,Mr. AugustineAnggat
Ganjing,is not only oneof Sarawak's bestariistsandan authorof a book
on Iban design,but alsoa leamedmanof letters. He standsin the sreat
tradition.His father,GanjinganakAyu.of Ulu Simunjan, wasalepamiang,
or bard,andsowerehisfather'sthreebrothers,Mulok,Juing,andBundan.
Augustinereadmy draft minutely. Becauseof his sensiiivityto detail
Augustinewasableto point out very subdefeaturesof Ibangrammarwhich
I wouldneverotherwisepickedup.
Dr. JobnKelseyloanedmeimportantbooksandsubjectedmy draft to close
scrutiny. Dr. John Postill, StevenHirsch, BartholomewNasip, Sidi and
Heidi Munan, and Sim Kwang Yang also read drafts and ionributed
pricelessknowledgethat savedme from many a slip. Mr Looi SiewTeip,
M.A., lecturerin Englishliteratureat Universiti Malaya,hadbookscopied
for me andsharedhis leamingon the fine pointsof phonologyhe knowsso
well. hof. AlexanderAdelaarkindly criticized a draft, althoughit wastoo
lateto takefull adiantageofhis comments.Many others,Sarawakiansand
friends abroad,communicatedtheir commentsandgaveme many a good
word.
Ms. Victoria Encharanggetsthanksfor suggestingthe title of this book.
Shehad it in five secondsafter I askedher when we met and talked in
Kuching.
Thanksto the staff of the SarawakMuseumLibrary for their generoushelp
to me over tlle yearsin manythingsbesidesthis book, andfor maintaining
their collection,without which I would havebeenhandicapped.I speakfor
manyotherswhomtheyhavehelped.
Finally, specialthanksto Miss Chu Mee Fah of the Star Co. Her shop
appearsto be a stationeryshop like many others;but one who looks
carefully there will discoverthe love of literaturethat runs in the family.
Her late brother, Mr. Chu Kah Chai, first encouragedme to write this
grammarandsubmitit to him. May the godsof literiture prosperthem.
Otto Steinmayer,Lundu; 4 July 1999

8
The Iban Language.
f BAN is spokenby overhalf a million peoplein theislandof Bomeo.
I
^ Iban is a memberof the Malayo-Polynesian branchof the great
Austronesianlanguagefamily. Until the SpaniardsandPortuguesebegan
to plant their colonies,Austronesianwasthe languagefamily spreadmost
widely over theworld. Evennow it stretchesfrom Madagascarin the west
to Hawai'i andEasterIsland in the east,frorn Taiwanin the north to New
Zealandin the south.
Compare:'coconut'- Ibannyiur Hawai'iatl.niu
All of the native languagesin Bomeo are rclatedto one another,and
related also to BahasaMalaysia, the national languageof Malaysia, to
Bahasalndonesia,and to the variouslocal Malay dialects. Iban is a very
close relative to Malay, althoughIban is more closely relatedto the
ancestrallanguage(which apparendyarosein Bomeor ) that developed
into both. If you know Malay, you can get a good manyhints conceming
Iban, but you must rememberthat people who sPeakone cannot
automaticallyspeakthe other,and that the geniusesof the two languages
arc very different. Iban is also closely relatedto Selakau,spokenin the
west of Borneo, but less closely relaied to Bidayuh and Orang Ulu
languages.
Lcarning the tangnge.
Bomeansare, in general,very good at leaming languages.Many Dayaks
know at leasttwo, not only local dialects,but suchlanguagesas Chinese
and English, which lie outsidethe Austronesianfamily. The reasonthat
Ibansare suchgood linguistsis not, well, it's not that they rczlly are srtch
goodlinguists; but they don't feel asharnedat trying to communicatewith
soniebodyat abasiclevel,andastheypractise,theygetbetter.By all means
feel no false shameabouttrying out your rudimentaryIban on the people
you me!.Youmayhavesuccessthat surprisesyou. Languageis oneof the
big topicsof conversationin Sarawalc,andlinguistic, aswell asrhetorical
andpoetic skill, is admired. Peoplewill be happyto correctyour Iban,and
often they will volunteerto correct your Iban whetheryou like it or not!
Even if they make no attempt, you'll pick up on the way people
subconsciouslycorrect you as they conversewith you, and if you pay
attentionandpractise,you'll getbetter.Speakandhavefun. Ifpeople laugh,
perhapsthey're amusedat someunexpectedexpressiYeturn you've given

I seeldet""., t995.
 to their language.
And especially,listen. It's amazingthe things a discreetpersonwill leam.
The tru-testof knowing a languageis not how well you can express
yourself,but how well you understand thenuancesofother peoples'speech.
The soundsof Iban
Iban is written with the Romanalphabet.Not all the lettersare used,but
Ibansleam them all in the usualorser.
Vowels
Iban usesthe vowels a, e, i, o, u. (The letter e standsfor two differenr
vowels, as I chall explain.) Theseare all pronouncedshon, and mostly
pure, as in Italian. The exceptionis when vowels occur at the endso1
wordsandthe correctpronuncidtionis obscuredby a too-simplespelling.
The diphthongsai, au, oi, andui are pmnouncedastwo shortvowels put
rapidly together,as in sungai'iver,' bau ,smell,'tanggoi.sunhat,'and
Juit_'joist'as if they weresunga-i,ba-u, arldtanggo-i. The u andi of sr.rir
hardlycoalesceat all, andyou canhearthe two vowelsvery clearlvin bau.
Peoplewill sometimes dragthe wordout for emphasis. ,Ba-u!' ieans,,It
reallysrnellsl'Or ar', 'yes,'canbecomeA-r'.r 'yesindeed!.'
One combination,oa (also spelledua) occursrarely, and standsfor two
different things, In nuan 'yol' and moa,face'the two vowels are
pronouncedrapidly but arestill distinguishable;in nma .many' the voweld
often coalesceso that the word comesout soundingasif ama.'
Th lettere standsmostof thetime for the very shortvowel [a] (the schwa,
calledpepetinMalay), whichis pronouncedlike a short.uh.' In older books,
both in lban andotherMalayic languages,this pepetis oftenprinted 6. The
lefter e also standsfor the sound[e], pronouncedlike the e in .red.,
Example: -mCh(emphasizingsuffix). The difference between the two
vowels is illustratedby the two wordsterabai 'shield', pronouncedas if
'trabu' , and.trebai 'to fl:y''pronouncedasif ,terbai.,In this last word. the
first e is the longer, the secondis the pepet. In this book I will use an
accented 6 to markthelongervowel
.dt thebeginningsof wordsalso,a pepetwill almostdisappear,so ahatenti,
'if' soundshke 'nti', or endq' 'not' like ,nda. Be careful of e at the
beginningsof words where where it standsfor the lonser 6 as an
alternativespelling of i. Endu'(usually spelledindu' .fimale.) is a
differentwordfrom endu,''Miss.'
When the letter a occurs asthe final soundof a word, with or without a
10
glottal stopafter it (that is, for example,not 'ang' or -ah), it can-standfor
oneof two different sounds,the straight[a] asin 'father' whenthercis no
glottal stop,andalso,whena glottal stopfollows, for [c], like the vowel in
;saw' but ihorter. Tlns dada'chest' and lada 'gppet' arc pronounced
ldadal and [ada] but sida''they' and lia' 'ginger' are pronounced
ipproaching[sidc?] and[hc?] resPectivelyThis differencein vowelquality
is subtleandsometirnes hardto pick up.
In final syllablesof wordsthatcontainan 'i' or an 'o' vowel, however,what
one hearsis not the pue vowel but somethinglike [ia] and [oa]. Thus:
ta,si&'sea' is pronourced'lasi6k' dulok 'sit' is pronounced'dudoek,' and
dom (way of addressinga youngman) 'dom.' You can evenhearpeople
say things like 'ora6ng,' spelledorang'person'' This is a.bit lnr4 and
you'll juit haveto listen andimitate.Not everyIban speakslike this. Don't
Lv to be 'standard.' There is no standardlban, although most of the
uoooon""tt on the Radio-TelevisionMalaysia (RTM) Iban service use
SecondDivision dialect. Stick to the accentyou acquiredwhereyou first
found your feet in Sarawak,andyou will havea point of referenceaswell
asa conversationpieceall the time you are there.z
When a pepetvowel occursbetweena 'stop' consonant,such1! k' g'-t, d'
p, b, (alsoi, which is not a stopbut a 'fricative') andthe 'liquids' rtir l, the
pepet ve.y nearly drops out in pronunciation,so that geli'ticklish'
becom"sgl!, and 'rubbersandal'becomesslipar, which is of coune
'slipper.' "rfipar
When a word endsin -oh or -uh, the spelling often varies,for example,
tuboh 'body' canbe spelledtubuh. This variationin spellingindicatesthat
the vowel hereis somethingbetween[o] and [u]. A very few wordsbegin
with o: the two most impofianaarc orqng 'humanbeing, person/people'
andapr's'of6ce.' Somi oiderbooksspelltheword ulih 'lo get' olih ot even
olbh.The wordubat 'medicinetis often pronounced,andspelled,obat.
Consonan6
The consonants areshownin thefollowing list. Theyarepronounced,again,
pure,without theheavyh soundingpuff of air that Englishspeakersmix in
;ith them.(To anAsian,whenwe say'tea,'it soundsasif we'resaying't'
heah.'
'he, she' with a y in the middle of it, iyc.
--..-----.._.---
2 In sucha basicbook as rhis I cannottake accountof all the many regionalpronunciations'
Be advisedthatyou will comeacrosssomestraige variants.where I live, in Lundu, Sebuyau
spakers saysuchthingsaslkuweryoh] for kt{1, 'cake'and [''/lryah]forclilt 'gel
11
Likewise, when a consonant like k, g, t, d, p, or b, ends a word, the Iban
speakerusesthe consonant to cut off the flow of sound. He does ,ot rele(lse
the consonant and follow it with a puff of air. To Iban ears, when we
pronouncethe word 'cat' it soundslike ,kat'h-uh.'
Not all thc sounds ofEnglish are used in Iban. H is not pronounced except
at the endsof words, although,ari 'day' is always,and,ati ,liver, or heart'
is often spelled, by convention, with an h. In the case of iari this is to
distinguishit from arl'from.' There is no f soundin Iban. If your nameis
Philip, you will often hear peoplecalling you .pilip.' Likewiie thereis no
z soundor sh sound,or-with one exception-v sound. The letter q is not
used, except in the old-fashioned spelling of the name of the town
euop
(outside Kuching). The 'queenie' variety of mango is pronounced is rn
English but witten kuini. Nor is x used. .Taxi'iJwritten ,efsi. Enslish
words that are adoptedinto lban often have their soundschaneedint6 the
nearestacceptableIban soundif the English is unpronouncabl;in the Iban
system. '.Fashion'becomespl'siz. However, tiyi .television' keeDstoc
English sound,to distinguish the word from trbj .tuberculosis..
Thble of consonants.
k: ftd&i,'foot, leg.'
gi gagit,'enthusiastic'
ng: (not pronounced [ng] as in 'finger'but simply as [0] as in
'sirytr\g.') ngingit 'cicada.' The combination
[0g] ls
spelled -ngg: e.g. pinggai 'plat'.'
c: (always pronounced 'ch' asin ,church') cabi,,chjli,. Often spelled
'ch' Kuching'KucIlng.'
j: jalai's0ef'tlgo
ny: ([Jr] asin 'canyon' or Spanish 'pifla') nyamai ,pleasant, easy,tasty'
t E h' E a.'
d: dudok'sit
a: nadai 'don't have'
p: pisang'banana'
b: babi'pig'
m: may6u'cat'
y: yu', ikan ya..'shark. Almost no words are spelledwith y at the
beginning. Ia' can be spelled ia'. In the middle ofwords, the sound
exists but is usually not spelled out. Maioft ,many' is pronounced
maiyoh, and often splled, mayoh. Iban people do like to spell ra,
t2
rumah,'ho.use.' The letter r is pronounced differently in different
areas. Ibans usually pronounce r witl a single flap of the tongue.
In some areaspeople pronounce it like the French r, which is
made by vibrating the uvula, the little thing that dangles at the
back of the palate. In Sebuyau dialect r becomes h. Berapa iko'
orang di baroh rumah? 'Hout many people under the house?'
becnmesBehapa ik'o'ohang di bahoh humah? However, the sound
r is never trilled the way it is in Indonesian, except when people
are trying to pronounce words exceptionally distinctly, as when
in front of a large audience. Another thing to watch out for, if you
travel among regions of Sarawak where Ibans have different ways
of speaking, is the tendency for r to be converted to, or change
places with, l. Some Ibans say berari 'all the time,' (ftom icri
'day') others say belarl some say ular ' snake,' others say zral.
l: l6l.ok 'tired'
w: wong, ai'wong 'rapids.'Thissoundcanexist in the middle of
words without being spelled out; for example, beruang lberuwa\l
'bear.' But compare bawang, 'onion.' Sometimes the w sound is
spelled u at the beginnings of words. Uap, 'vapo stgam.'
sungai 'iver.' In some dialects s at the ends of words can be
pronounced [h] : p?dis 'painful' becomespedih
This sound does not occur at the beginnings or in the middles of
words, even if spelle(l there (for example tn hari 'day' ot sahari
'all day') but only at the ends oJ words, where it signifies a
prolongation ofthe vowel into a rough breathy sound, as in tilr
'tea' or mai.oh 'much/many.' This h at the ends of words is
important. The pa tree is different from the pauh nee.
Iban also has one consonant that appears in English but is not
recognized in the standard language. Thi s is the glotnl stop l7l, a
sound made by suddenly cutting off the wind at the very back of
the tbroat. The glottal stop is what you hear when an Englishman
from the north ofhis country saysa littl bottk: 'ali'lbo'l...' ln
Iban the glonal stop is very important at the ends of words. Of
two words that look the sarne, one may have it, one may not, and
the two will have different meanings. For example, there are the
wordspaya,'pattem,' paya" swamp,' and payah'fio\ble", di'
'you'(sing.) is different from di 'at.'
IJ
AugustineAnggat told me an amusingpiece of riddling word-play that
illustratesthe importanceof the glottal stop:
Baka' Bakn baka baks' aku: 'Baka's betel-basket [is] Iike my
betel-basket.'
I have followed Richards' practice in his dictionary and indicated the
glottal stopby an apostrophe(') after the last vowel. Therehasbeenmuch
argumentabouthow the glottal stopshouldbe marked,but the apostrophe
seemsto me (and to some other worthy folks) to be the most elegant
arrangement.Evenso,only a few Ibansmark theglottal stopwhenwriting
their language.
example:ai' 'water.'
Everydoypronunciation and rqid speech
Native speakersof any language,when they talking in an informal
situation,takelibertieswith pronunciation,sothat whatcomesout of their
mouth is not pedanticallycorrect and, as it were,preciselychiselled,but
hereand there shortened,clipped, and slurred. Ibans do this as much as
Englishspeakers.A sentence like Nadci bisi'mandiakusqheritu' 'lhaven't
isi' mand.i'kusan ra'. TheSebuyau
bathedtoday' oftencomesoutas'ad.q,i
arc notoriousfor beingmalasnulut 'lazytututhed.' Oneday someyears
agoI met oneof my wife's cousinsin Lundu. He askedme whetherI had
come to town 'ngabas,' so I thought I heard, to check somethingout.'
Puzzled,I replied Aku nadai ngabasbarangnama' 'I'm not looking after
anything', and he laughedand replied, carefully tbis ime.'ngena' bas!'
What he had saidwas 'Did you comedown usingthe bus?'
The only remedyfor this confusionis to keep lislening to people speak
until your earscanconnecttlle actualsoundsof talk with theideal wordsof
the languageasconceivedin the mind. Unstressedvowelstendto fall out,
adjacentvowelsaresqueezed together,or wholesyllablesare 'swallowed.'
This habit of speechhas consequences for Iban grammar. The word for
'male'is commonly pronouncedand writteh /rfri. However,the collect
form is lelati. ThebeginningsyllableIe is calledapartial reduplication.lf
you listen very very carefirlly, you can hear that the le is still in some
ghostlyfashion 'there'; the tonguerests.rjnthe roof of the mouthwhenthe
soundstarts,andthis is what standsi0ffr the whole syllable. One might
wdte the result as ,/afi or perhaps'ldkr'. I will talk moreaboutthis in the
sectionon reduplicationbelow. Meantinie,throughoutthis gammar I use
the form of Uellati and other such words as Richardsgives them in his
dictionary. In this casethe entry is for laki.
t4
The Naturc of the Iban Languoge
Theseareexciting daysfor linguistics. The studyof languagehascome a
long wav in the pastfiw decades,pnd new discoveriesarebeing madeall
theii-". The mbst widely acceptedYiewofthe natureof languageowes
an enonnousatnountto the work of Noam Chomsky. His 'generative'or
'transformational'grammarhasthe repu.tationofbeing fearsomelyarcane
anddifficult. True,tlte details,like thoseof any science,arenumerousand
involved,but the main points of the new linguisticsare very easy to
notionsthatmost
understand.andin fact tendto confirmthecommon-sense
peoplehaveaboutlanguage.3 Most imPortantTo(our purposesherc is to
itati the point that all languagesarise from the samebasic structure,
commonti all humanminds. Languagesdiffer, though;fint, aseverybody
knows,in their sounds,andalsoiir various 'Parameters,'optionsamonga
range that each languagesets by convention. We have discussedthe
vari-'oussoundsof lban. What follows is a list of someof the principal
parametersof the Iban language.
. Word order is tlrc most importaot way Iban uses to indicate
gramrnaticalrelationships. Iban placesthe words of a sentencein
i fairly strict order of Subject,.verb,Object.
. Whentwo Iban words come together,the secondword modifies the
first. The easiestway to understandthis is to look at how adjertives
always follow the noun they rnodtfy:. bunga mirah 'red flowet'
However either of the two words can belong to any -partof speech
exceptpiepositions.This givesrise to a large variety of corstructions'
which will be explainedaswe go along.
. Iban is a 'head-first'language,tlat is, in building phrases'the main
topic of the phrnse (the 'head') comes first' and other words that
. modify the headfolow in order of decreasingimportance'
'red'
mirah
'red lofl jambu-fruit'(= 'pink')
mirahiambu
'red[ofljambu-ftuit,old' (= 'darkpink')
mirah-jambu tuai
'slighdydarkpink' a
mirahiambu tuai mrztt
. BecauseIban is head-first,it usesprepositions,that is words of no
placed in front of anotherword to
. meaning in thernselvesthat arc
indicatehow that word relatesto the rest of the sentenc'
3 A stimulating and entertainingintsoductionis StephenPiiker's me ltn$uo|c Inslincl'
Pnguin,1995.
4 Compae the way military English describsthings,e.g' 'hat, sun,hot wcather'typg II '
r5
 Except for the verb, Ib anhas no inflections, ftat is. no Iban word chanpes
rts torm !o indicate its grammatical function. The verb in Iban rs infec6d- Note: The aim of the above list is not to make you think that Iban rs
it changesshape. bur the kinds of things this inflection indicates are radically different from English, or that is is an 'exotic' language.As we
totally different from what the English virb indicates by its chanles. will seein the examplesthroughoutthis book, English can do many of
things Iban cando, anddoes.
Iban has no true verb 'to be,' although there are verbs that take over
some of to be's functions, and thi concept can be expressedin Two irnport4ntWrameters
other ways without a verb.
Iban grammardiffers from English in two parametersso much that they
Iban words do not take any particular form to show what part shouldbe explainedat the very first. Theseare 1) the way in which Iban
of
speech (hey are. unlike in English, where the _ly endins -of sav. distinguishesbetweendeterminedandundeterminednouns,and2) the way
'quickly' (-/y added to quickl shows that the whole
*oia i, in Iban omits the verb 'to be' in sentences.
adverb.
1) Human beingshabitually think of things in terms of both the general
There. is no agreement in lban. Iban nouns have to gender (tt andthe particular,andthis difference is expressedin the languagethey
Europg:an languages this means most commonly the dist"inction of irse, in the way nouns arc determinedot undetennined.A noun is
masculine. feminire, and neuter) or number determinedwhen you're speaking of something specific, something
lsingular and plural).
lnrs meatrsahatthere are no special forms of the noun that require thbt is what it is and quite definitely not something else. A noun is
a specialform of the verb, if the noun is a subject ,A undeterminedwhen you're spefing of things in general,or when the
1e.g.in Engtish,
fish swims'as opposedro ,Birds fly');it also meani tta.?3""tiu"i questionof specificityis, at leastfor thetime.irreleiant.
do not haveto take a specialform dependingon th. n;; til;
The conceptis simpleenough,andeaih oneofus automaticallymakesthe
modlty. (As
modify. (As in
in French,
French. where you
vou
J()U m sf .tierino;ich
rmust
ust distinguiphh.r..^--
utsunguljin between ,- aeQl
Detween /e
/e n--:,
bean subtle logical calculationsabout which variety of noun to use when we
g-arcon 'the handsome boy'and la belle nadtihoiselle .(he pretty
talk. It may rot, however,appearclear at first, and so let me explain the
girl'. )
way English handlesit.
Iban is a language in which classrfers mus{ b used with all nouns
Fully correctEnglishusesarricles('the' 'a') to mark detandundet-let me
when the number of things is imponant. E.g. Both Iban and Enslish
use someabbreviationsher-nouns. But you don't needarticlesto
say liga kong r &rras 'three cups of rice., but in lban you have tJ sav
showthe differencebetweendet andundet. Imagineyou're in a workshop
enambatangpinsil 'six sncts [ofl pencils.' This wi be explainedlatei.
with a personwho doesnot useperfectly correctEnglish. He says:
Iban nouns can be determined or undetermined, but lban uses
no 'Cive me screwdriver'
article.
Ilbanleavesmany grammatical features of a sentence_such
Youpick up the first thing you seeon thebench,andhe opensa canof parnt
as tense, with it. Thenhe says:
the time when something takes place. and mood, which includes
whether 'Give me big yellow phillips screwdriver.'
.somebodythinks an action is actual, possible. or merely
hypothetical-to be understood from context, wirere nngtsh mate"s
You hunt arounduntil you find theparticulartool, which hasa quarter-inch
them explicit in the language.
bladeandthe brigtrt handlethat is the trademarkof the StanleyCo., andhe
Iban, re..eulq[ uses reduplication. .doubling,' to make compound setsa screwthat wasnot quite tight.
words that differ in meaningfrom the undoubledword.
Most of the time English distinguishesbetweendet andundetby meansof
articles, of wytl,chtberc are, obviously,two, the inLertnituNticle, and the
dcrtnite article. Tlrc indefnite qrticle is 'a' or @('zero,' that is, no mark,6
' trorg is a bonowing from Chinese.Ibans feel quite happy to appropriateto their nothing):'a dog,' 'dogs,' 'medicine.' The indefinitearticle preceedsa
own
languageany word they find useful. noun whenyou are talking about somethingas a class, ot as some
unsoecifiedmemberor membersof a class.
t1
li
'A dogis a boy'sbestfriend.'
'Medicine is a fine subjectof study.'
'Dogs wag their tails whenhappy.'
Thedertnitearaicle
is 'the:' 'thedog,' 'thedogs,''the medicine.'
'Thedog(or 'the dogs')got into thegarbage.'
'Themedicineof themiddleagescouldnot curemuch.'
To make the distinction as to how the articles are used a little clearer,
considerthat it soundsmore naturalto say 'Shoo the dog (or, 'dogs') off
theporch'than'Shooa dogoff theporch.'Thelattercanbe saidonly when
you havea bunchof namelesscurson the verandaandfor somercasonvou
needoneon theground,andasfor 'Shoodogsoff theporch'-when might
vou savthat? /
Anotherfunction of the undeVdetrelationship,madeexplicit by the article
in English,is to markinformationas 'new'' introducedfor the first time, or
'old,' alreadyintroduced. For example,a story might begin:
'A man stoodwaiting on a corneron a sfeet in a city.'
Comparethe effect if you changeeach'a' to 'th:'
'The man stoodwaiting on the comeron the streetin the city.,
In the fitst sentencethe curtain comesup and we patiently await for the
story to unfold. In the second,the 'the's'give us the feeling that we ought
to know this man, corner,street,city, that we ought to realize something
hdsbeengoing on beforethe scenewasrevealedto us.
Enoughof English. Iban hasno articles,but ir haswaysof distinguishing
det andundetnouns.Onecommonway resemblestie 'incorrect' English
screwdriverexampleabove,exceptthat in Iban it is perfectly correctand
etegant.
Orangdani. '[A] personis coming.'
OrangSESCOdani. '[The] person[from] SESCOis coming.' 8
Of course an undet noun need not have a mark,but in Iban it is not
o 'Mark' in grammarmeansthat a gradmatical function
is explicitly indicatedby a sign.
Thus in 'ships,' the fact tlat it is plural is markedwith the sign -s; in .sheep'the plural rs
unmarled.
7 Perhapswhena longhousemotheris beingbotheredby her
five yearold boy andtellshim ro
do somethinguseful out thereinsieadof whining in the rilit .longhouseapartmnt.'
8 SESCO:'Sarawa}Electdc SupplyCompany.'
l8
necessaryeven for a det noun to carry any mark at all. Context often
decideswhethera nounis undetor det.
Aku ka' malcaibubur lenmi tu'. 'I want to eat porridge [undet] this
evening.'
A: Ni bubur?B: Dalamperiok di dapur A: 'W[ere's [the] porridge?'
B: 'In [the] pot in [the] kitchen.'
If you're at home,you canhardly mistakewhat specificporridgeandpot B
is referring to.
A nounmodifiedby a pronounshowingthepersonto whomit belongswill
of coursebe det.
Kulit iya lembut. 'His skin is smooth.'
In placeof articles,Iban usesdemonstativesto mark nounsasdetermined.
The two demonstrativesmost commonlyusedthi&{Es.are tu' 'this,' and
nya' 'that.' Tu'is strong;it refersto what is right at hand. Nya'is a weak
'that,' indicating that the thing in questionis Just over there,' and hence
often jt is comesto be a pretty good equivalent in feeling for English
'the.'Y
Orangnya' bisi' dafai.'Thepersonhascome.'
Iban also has ways of indicating whetherinformation is new or already
introduced.You aretravelling in Sarawakfor the first tirne, andyour Iban
friend points to a rambling wobdenstructurethe likes of which you have
neverseenbeforeandsays:
Tu'rutnahpanjai. 'This [is a] longhouse.'
Severalyearslater you are traveling with the samefriend in the upriver
area3nd you arrive at a landing. He points andsays:
Tu' rumahpanjai nya' 'This [is] the longhouse'.
In fact, the oneyou havebeentalking abouton boardthe boat. Thusis the
feeling of the indefinite anddefinitearticle expressed.
Whenseveralwordsareput togetherto makearutunphrase,the nyd' marks
the end of the phrase:
orang Inki besaituai getnu' nya' 'The big, old, fat man.'
9 English 'tlrc' beganits life asa alemonstrttive,whoseneutersingllar folm survivesin the
demonsFative'tba!'.
l9
Iban, like many languages,does not ofien bother to mark the indefinite
'Chickensarebirds.'
feeling. However,if the thing that is being iniroducedis one thing, and that
'We areSebuyau.'
fact matters, Iban will specify the fact that it is one, by using the
appropiate numefical classifier fseebelow I pl us the prefi x .lu-, which means Copulativesentences cando oneof two things,they candescribea quality
'one.' of their subject,or they can assignthe subjectto a category.Both typesof
CS canbe eithergeneralor specificassertions.
Orang siko' datai. 'A personis coming.' l0
1. 'Grassis green.' quality/general
Bisi' rumahpanjai siti' di sungai tu.' 'There is a krnghouseon this
2. 'The watermelonis ripe.' quality/specific
river.'
3. 'Chickensarebirds.' category/general
This sentencecould equally well be translated:'There is one longhouseon 4. 'We areSebuyau.' category/specific .\
this river,'although a speakerwill usually be more explicit and saysiti'aja'
Two things diff.er in the way Iban, as opposedto English, treatsCs. First,
'one only.' The English 'a' also originally meant 'one.' | | '
Iban, sinceit hasno articles,is morecarefulaboutexplicitly distinguishing
The relative pronoun ti' or ke can also act as a kind of article. See the leneral andspecificassertions,andsecond,Iban omits the 'equal-sign.'
section on relative clauses below.
l. Ijau rumput-
Copulttive sentences and the omhsion of the verb 'to be,' 2. Semangknnya' mansau.
3. Manok sabansaburong.
No verb 'to be'exists in lban. You may find this strange,but as you will
- 4. Kami orang Sebuyau.
see, the Iban language is not in the least hampered by the lack of such a
Yerb. Yet,it's not enoughto saythat 'to be' is omifted: thesefour expressionsare
genuineIban sentencesand they must eachhave a verb. 'To be'is very
All languagesmake copulative settences. 'Copulative' here has nothing to
much here,exceptstrangelyit doesnot appearas an explicit word. You
do with sex, but refers simply to the connecting of two concepts.
might saythat in Iban 'to be' is unmarked[seenote 6], or that its form is
Schematically a copulative sentencetakes the form ofa simple equation a
= b, where a is a noun or pronoun, and b is another noun, br an adjective or
'zero,'that is, nothing. However,it is better to say that 'to be' in Iban is
representedby what linguistscall a 'trace.' A traceis somethingthat takes
something that acts like an adjective. The a portion is what the sentenceis
pan in the grammaticallo-gicof thoughtbefore speech,but which is not
all about and called the subjea in grammar. The subject of a CS (we are
realizedin speechitself. rr
abbreviatingagain)as of any sentenceis always a noun. l2 The equal-sign
plus the b portion is what you say about the subject and is called the The conceptsof equating,or associatingwith a quality or categorythat 'to
predicate. ('Predicate' means, 'what you say about something'-Latin be' representsaresobasicto our thoughtthatmanyotherlanguagesaswell
praedicare.) In English, the equal-sign is representedby a form of the verb aslban haveneverfelt th needto makethe useof the verb mandatoryin
'to be,' which /xrJt be there; it cannot be left out. the spokenlanguage. We can do the samein English, althoughnow it
soundspoetic:
'Grass is green.'
'The watermelon is rioe.' 'And dark the SunandMoon, andtheAlmanachde Gotha.' ta
But in casualspeechwe can, while waiting for a bus in the rain, for
10srio'is sa-+ iko' 'tail' numericalclassifertbr animals.
11In Germantoday the indefinitearticle remains 'one' ein. Es gibt ein Langhausan einem
13 To drc idea of tr""e clearer,I'll give an exampleof a type I haveoften heardfrom
Fl4, 'There is a longhouseon a iiver.'
12To avoiddifficultyandskiplongexplanations -ak"
Ibansspeating English: :This is the rice which I boughtit yesterday.'If a native speakerof
of thingslike 'nounphrascs'I'll adaptan Bnglish were to saythis, he would not add ihe 'it,' which is a tracein the way he mentally
oldjoke:Ifit waddleslike a noun,andquackslike a noun,andealsbugslik o nounandlays processeshis language.The Iban speaker,influencedby the way he processesthoughtinto
eggslike noun,thedit's probablya noun. So, 'eatingdce,' the subjectof the sentence.Eating speech,males the traceexplicit.
riceis good,'isa noun. 14T.S.F]h<*Fou, guarter& 'Eastcoker' trI

20 2l
example,tum to a friend andsay 'Terrible weather,'andbe suresheknows
we mean'The weatheris terrible.'
Tracesarenot entirely 'nothing.' The spacewheresomethingis left out in
speechbut meantto be understoodis indicatedby the subdestof features
or gestures,which canbe changesin intonationor word order or choiceof
words.Let us look at how thesework in the the four examplesabove.
l) Ijau mntput. Here the normal word order of subject first is
reversed.This is to signalthat thesetwo words are a completesentence,
since the predicate is in the stmng place at the beginning;but merely
to reversethe word order is not enough.Rememberthatonegeneralrule
of Iban is that when two words cometogether,the secondmodifiesthe
first. Thus, ijau rumput, allby itself, seemsto mean'green [as] grass.i
However,if you pronouncetheswordswith extrastressof the voice on
iaa andFolong thesecondsyllable1ca slightly,or pausefor a fractionof
a instant, then let your voice fall saying runput, you have an
unmistakeablesentence.
Ijart, rumput.
comparc:Nyanat, angin. "Brceze [is] pleasant,'anddngin nyqmai
'[a] pleasantbieeze.'
Emphasiswill alsoallow a speakerto makea quality/generalCS with the
wordsin 'normal' order,subjectftst. (Imaginetiat someoneis correcting
your confusionat the fish-market.)
Patin besai!Seluangmit! 'Catfish larel DrglMinnows [are] szafl/ 15
However,the comrnonestway Iban points to the traceof 'to be' in quality/
generalCSsis to insertan adverbbetweenthepredicate,which comesfirst,
andthesubject:
I amail
Nyamai { amat I angin. 'Breezelisl truly pleasant.'
lendnr)
Tttrothingsto notehere:first, theseadverbsareofthe kind thatgive strength
to an assertion;thereforethey go with theinvisible 'to be' asmuchaswith
theadjective.Second,theadverbcomesbetweentheadjectiveandthenoun,
and so thesetwo wordscannotmakea phnse, they haveto be interpreted
aspredicateandsubjectrespectively.

15Comparcthe sloganfrom CeorgeOrwell's Arinal Fam 'Four legsgood,two legsbad.

22
2) Semangkatu'mansar. The subjectof a quality/specific CS like this
one will alwaysbe a determinednoun,becausethe assertionis aboutone
particularthing. Sincethe subjectis followed by a determiner,such as
tu' or nya', it comes fiIst. The predicate adjectiveis separatedfrom it
andso there is no danger of the words being associatedtogether as a
phrase.The only alternativethen is to understand thewordsasa sentence,
in which case the spirit of 'to be' will be there.
Angin tu' nyarnai.'This breeze[is] pleasant.
Ruttwhkanximit. 'Our house[is] small.'
Or, if you want to put moreemphasison the 'pleasant'or 'small' part of it,
you canput thesesentences againinto the reversedword order.
'Nyamaiqngin tu'. Mit rumahkani.
Again, the determinerfollowing thenounmeansyou haveto takeit andthe
noun together; the noun cannot form a phrasewith the adjective. For
comparison,considerwhatwould happento Eliot's sentence'Dark thesun'
if we left out the 'the;' the result would be a phrase'dark sun.'
3) Manoksabansaburong 'Chickens[are]a type lofl bird,' and 4) Kami
orang Sebuyau 'We [are] Sebuyaupeople.' You will seethat when an
Iban speakermakesa CS of either the general or' specificvariety which
assignsthe subjctto somecategory he or sheis carefulto specifythekind
of category as well as whdt that categorycontains.There are several
reasonsfor this. The simplestis that, asinthe first two kinds ofCS, you
haveto avoid bringingthe subjectaDdpredicateinto dircct contact.because
of the 'followingwordmodifies'parameter.Henceyou cannotsayeither
*Manokburong16 or +Burongmtnok 7f yott are going to makethem
mean 'Chickensare birds.' Manok burong means'the chicken of a bird'
a:ndburongmanokmeans'the bird of a chicken".kami Sebuyau means
'we Sebuyau'andSebuyau kamimeans'our Sebuyau.'
The secondreasonis that Iban likes to make it clear that a logical
relationshipis being discussed.A word of category-which is alsooften a
numericalclassifer aswell [seebelow]---comesat the headof its phrase:
sabarnaburong,orang Sebuyau.Thereforethe words split into two neat
parcels,easily interpretableas subjectandpredicate,with the face 'to be'
betweenthem. The very presenceof a word of categorymeansthat these
assertionsareclassifications.

16when an asteriskappearsin front of a word or phmsein a linguistic work, it meansthat that

word or phraseis not found o! not permitted in the language,or is a hypothetical
reconstruction,

23
The carethat Iban takeswith making the logical natureofCs clearis best
illustratedwith a samplesyllogism:
Uging anak mensiasiko'.
Semoa'arutkmensia
enda'mu' enda'parai dudihari,
Nya' alai Ugingenda' tau' enda'parai dudi hari.
'Socratesis a man. All men are mortal, ThereforeSocratesis mortal.'
While English speakersoften use copulativesentences,
Iban likes to
expressthe sameideasmore colorfully. In English we might say, 'My
breakfastis alwaysa pieceof toast,an orange,andtea,' an Iban would say
Tiappagi aku makaiasi' enggauikan pusumimi4 lalu aka ngirup segelas
kopi: 'Every moming I eat rice with a little dried fish and drink a cup of
coffee.'
Without gettinginto knotty talk aboutlogic andsemantics,you can easily
seethat they operateas well in Iban as in any other language.Thus,you
can say ljart, rumput 'Grass is green,' but not *Mansa , semangka,
'Watermelonis ripe.' This makes no senseas an assertionabout
watermelonsas a whole, and cannot refer as it standsto a specific
watermelon.
Another lban prelerence
Discussionof breakfastbrings up anotherpoint Iban where likes things
otherthan what English likes. English,broadly speaking,likes to express
things with nouns. Iban, on the otherhand,is very fond of expressingas
much as possiblethroughverbs. For example,in English we would say
'We went up the river that way with our children.'In Iban this goes:Kami
menyanakmudik kin. Heremenyanakcanbe analyzedasa verb formedas
follows: anat means'child', sa-, is a prefix that means'same' or 'with,'
(by the rules of rasalization-seebelow-sa- becomesrya-; the a melds
with the following a) and me- makesthe whole thing into an intransitive
verb. Mrdit on theotherhand,is a verbwhosespecialmeaningis 'to go in
a boatup river.' Iban is hereoften morecolbrful thanEnglish. Wesay 'We
hava dog.'IbanssayKani nupi asu' slto''We raisea dog.' 'To weara
shirt' is expressedby bebajufrombaju'shirt;' 'to live,' asin 'we live across
the river' is expressedbyberunmh'to havea house'(rrrrnai 'house).' In
the sameway,whereEnglishlikes to useadjectives,Iban likes to useverbs.
Asi'nya'udah beban 'The [sc. leftover] rice is alreadysmelly.'
Ular nya' rruu.jai batang kayu!. 'The snake was as long as a
tree-trunk!'
...iya ke ngimbaiaku... 'the personwho is next to me'
Parts of Spech
Thoughin Englishwe tendto believethatwordsarerigidly assignedto the
categoryof nouns,verbs,adjectives,etc., many words can operatein
severalcategories.'Red' canbe a oun or an adjective;'run' canbe a verb
or a noun. Iban words have still more freedom to roam and change
functions.As I hzivesaid,in Iban tlere areno featuresin theform of a word
that mark it at first glanceas any specificpart of speech.
Nounscanbecomeverbi easily, 17 eitherwith no change,or with oneof a
few slight changeswhich we shall get to. For example- .
jalai'rotf' ) bejalai'go, walk' [In casualspeechoftenjust 'Jalai.]
, cinsqw 'chainsaw'-> nydnscut'hechainsaws/theychainsaw'
Adjectivescanbecomeverbs:
besai 'bi,g'i Batu hya' mesairumah.'That rock is asbig as a house.'
(asif 'Thatrock bigsa house.')
tinggi 'hlgh,tal[' Tai'mayauninggisolaz. 'Catpoop [as] high [as]
theattic.'(froma children'srhyme) 16
kamah'&rty,' nganmh'dirnes'
A prepositiontoo canbecornesomethinglike a verb-
enggau'with' ).lya enggauaku. 'He [is coming] with me.'
An intenogativepronouncan tum into a verb-
sapa? 'who?' nyapa 'callsout from afar.'
And an interogative adverbcan,by a processthat takesit though being
a quasi-verb,into an positive adverb-
kapa'? 'why?' ngapa''invai'.n.'
How a word behavesmostly dependson how or where it's usedin the
phmseand sentence.A major pripciple of Iban grammaris, as we have
said, that when one word follows another,the secondword modifies the
first. The natureof the first word determineswhat part of speechthe
secondword is to be interpretedas. For example,adverbslook no different
from adjectives-
Iengkas'quick' I lengkas'gu'iclrJy'
I In ihe caseof rjdn 'rain', it's hardto saywhetherit's a nounor a verb in sentences
suchas
Hai ujan'Day n;n' andHai ka' ujan'Day willtain.'
18As verbs,zesai andmanJ?iareusedonly in comparisons.
25
 Anak iya badas enggauorang tuai 'Her child is nice witlr older
p@ple.'I Main bola.r.t'Play nicely!'
A word canbe thoughtof eitherasan adjectiveor asa noundependingon
ryhethelit takesthe first or secondplacein a phrase-
anaklaki 'male child,boy.' But, laki atnk iya meli beras,'Her child's
malc[='husband']is buyingrice.'
Noans
The nounin Iban looksthe samehoweverit is usedin a sentence.This
makesit different from English nouns,which changetheir appearanceto
makeclearwhetherwhat you're talking aboutis one(the singularform) or
many (the plural form), as in 'cat'and 'cats.' The English noun can also
take a form, usually by adding -'s, to show that the nouns 'owns'
something,as in 'the cat's food,' or 'the boys' ball.' Iban nounsdo not
changein this way, or in any otherway. Bujang is 'bachelor' 19 andalso
'bachelors.'
Possession,the possssiveposition
Generally,if two wordsareput togetherthesecondmodifiesthefirst. When
you want to put two nounsin a relationshipwhereone 'owns' the othe!
you show that by putting the word of the thing ownedfirst, then follow it
with thenounthatis the 'owner.'
Gamalbujang 'bachelor'sfigure'
balabujang 'bachelors'group'
Naturally, thesetwo examplescan also be translated'the figure of the
bachelor'and 'the group of bachelors.'Whenthe noun that possesses
follows the noun that is possessed,it is said to be in the possessr'w(or
g?niiv?)position
More examples:Tu' mannkaftz.'This [is] my chicken/thechicken[ofl I.'
Ni ndong tajau nya'l 'Where [is] the lid [ofl thejar?'
One or many
The plain unaccompaniedIban noun can denoteone thing (althoughyou
can add words to specify the onenessif that's important)or many things.
Whetherone or many dependson context. If I say to you Ambi'pinsil
'Pick up pencil' I probablymeanone pencil. IfI sayManok rnkni sayur
'Chicken eat vegetable' I pmbably mean that a bunch of chickens are
19Better ye! 'unattachedyouth,' one of the stagesof life. The femalee4uivalentis daru.
26
eating'a bunch of yegetables. In order explicidy to show that you are
talking about more than one thing, you must place a quantifying word
beforethenoun,suchas-
nmioh,'n4rry' 'much:' nnioh bujcng 'manybachelors'
' mimit l:few' 'ahftle: nimit anak few children.'
I choosethe word 'quantifier'for a redson.{n otherlanguages,wordssuch
as'many'and'few' aretreatedstrictlyasadectives:yetyou canseethatin
Iban, becausethesewords te placei.d beforethe noun they modiry when
they'speci$ 'alot' or 'a little.' Meanrtmemaibh andzimit canbe usedas
plain adjectives:Dttit iya naioh tangpenemuiya mit'His moneyis a lor,
but his intelligenceis litfle.' 20 The explanationof what on the surface
sema puzzleis this: nabh and.mimitte indeedadjectives,but whenthey
quantify a word they becomea kind of quasi-noun.This noun is then
followed by thenounof thething quantifiedin thepossessive position..The
grammarhereis exacdyparallelto theEnglishexpressions'a lot o/ and 'a
little al', This will becomeclearerin the sectionon numericalclassifiers.
Numbers,ofcourse,with the appropriatenumericalclassifiertell you how
rnanyof a thing thereare. Numbersalsocomebeforethe noun.
Gender?
The grammaticalterm 'gender' has nothing to,do with the supposedsei,
much less sexualpreference,of a thing, but refers to the way nounsare
arrangedinto classes.Somelanguageshavesevengenders,or evenmore.
In most Europeanlanguages(evenEnglish to a very small.extent)nouns
will look, generally,one way br anotherdependixgon whetherthe word
belongsto a grammaticalcategoryof 'masculine,''feminine,' or 'neuter.'
Genderdoesnot exist as a constantlydisplayedgrammaticalconceptin
Iban: there is nothins about an lban noun that makesit look 'male' or
'female.' The pronoriniya,meansboth.'hei and 'stre,' 21 the word.orang
means'person.' Likewise ana&means'child,' and if yo\r're going to,say
'son' or 'daughter'you must attachthe proper adjective:anak indu'
'female chlld,' snrl,klaki'malecblld.' However,ihereareregularpairslike
apai/indai 'father/mother,'aki'littif 'gandfather/grandmothel' ,&c. If it
really matlrs,then 'duck' is itit indu'and 'drake' is itl /4ti, but usually
ducksare iust 'ducks' idr.
20 Thbreis aldoatea-fisli calledikan'maioh'the fish.' a hevallv 1'lrenarnecomesftom
lhe gat amountof fesh it has. ^-lot
21 Isnt iyd a dream-pronounfor Oe politically correct? What influeice gender-neutralityin
languagehasoDequalityin Iban societyI'll let you judge.
27
However, Iban does make a silent gender-distinction between things that senseto an English speaker. All things in this world come in quanta, whethr
are animate and inanimate objects. We shall leam more about this later. natural, tails of people, or artifcial, sfteetr of Paper. Iban makes the nature
of these quanta clear rather than, like English, just assuming it.
Numeri.cal chssifiers
Notice that the noun that is being quantified or measured comes in the
In the section on copulative sentences,we saw that Iban likes to have the
possessive position after the numerical classifier. Here Iban works in the
logical framework of a statement clear, whether you are talking about
sameway as English genitive ('of') construction
something as class, or as a specific thing. We English-speakers are happy
to say 'two watermelons' whether we mean that in the senseof 'two fruits 'I saw three bowls of soup on the table.'
of watermelon' or of 'two kinds of watermelon,' but in Iban you cannot say
+d.uasemangka.It's not enough and the phrase doesn't mean anything. That is, the soup itself is thought of as being a lot of liquid in a pot, and then
you take three bowls out of it.
The correct way of saying it would be in the first case dua igi' buah
senangka. alnd,in the second,dua bansa semangka, Kami meda'tigq iko'orang sida' iya. 'We saw three there of them.'
In lban, if you want to say how many of a thing thereare, you must always lit 'We saw three tails of people of them there.]'
usewhat is called a numerical classifier in connectionwith the noun tiat is Ari samuasida,' tiga iko' aja' niki ka ruai kami. 'Olutof all of them,
being counted.We do the samething in English, but much lessregularly.In only three climbed up to our veranda.'
English, we usenumericalclassifierswhen the thing we're talking about is
The samewith simple words meaning 'many/much 'or 'fedless.'
by nature somethingthat doesn't come in piecesthat can be counted.For
example: Enggai aku ngirup maioh tuak diqtu'. 'I'd rather not drink a lot of
rice-wine now.'
'Give me two teaspoonsof sugarin my coffee.'
lri' mimit qja' ai' nwia nuan deka' ngerebusundang. 'Pour [in] just a
Sugarcan't be counted,exceptgrain by grain, so we put a word in front to
little bit of water when you want to boil prawns.'
specify how we ale to measureit. We don't do this in English with wor{s of
things that we can count. Thus we say 'There are twelve people in the ' Simpan semoa nyc '. 'Put away all of them.'
room.'
In westem languages we call this constructi:on t|].epartative Senitive.
Iban uses numerical classifiers like English, to specify how uncountable
In the most elaborate style of Iban, there exists a spcific numerical classifer
things are to be measured.
for almost each and every noun, rather as we say 'a gaggle of geese,' 'a
Aku deka' meli dua gantang beras wangi nya'. pride of lions,'etc. But from day to day, people use a small number of
'I want to buy two pecks of the fragrant rice.' general-purpose classifiers. Here is a table:
And Iban also uses numerical classiners in front of nouns of thines which
Typeof thing Classifier Examole
we thinft countable.
small roundishthings tgr'('seed') sekru sigi"one *rew'
Bisi'd.uabelnsiko'orang di baroh rumah.
handleablesizethings, iti'('piece') duaiti'bup'twotl'l,oks'
'There are twelve tairs [it.] of people under the house.' 22 usually flat
stick-like things batang ('stick') tiga batqng paip
Beri dua banng rokok.
-'three pipes'
'Give two sticks of cigarette.'
largishroundedthings bunh ('truit') enpat buah moto
Just as we say: 'I need three shetsofpaper.'This feature of Iban can make 'four cars'
people and animalsiko' ('tarl') lima iko' orang 'five people'23
22 'Under the house?'Iban houses,whetherlonghousesor single,are usually built high off
the groundon pos6. As in English, many phrases come with the classifier 'built in,' so to speak,

28 29
for example duit lima puloh ringgit'cashfifty dollats,' tiga kayu' rambutan leki small discretethings,often round
'thrce rambutan tees' (more elegantly, ti ga pun kayu' rambutqn: pun 'frUmk lumpong thingsin lengths,logs, loincloths,etc.
of tree)'. Any noun signifying a container or unit of measure,such as lungkang lump, segmentof fruit, slice
p inggai' plzte,' rnangkok' cnp,' tong' tin,' garlang'rice-measure,' lungkit singlesed,esp.of durian
grni 'gunny-sack,' m'rcr'mete\' or paun 'po}nd,' will function as a mata literally 'eye';various;seeRichardssubvoc.
numerical classifier To designate single items, put the pre6x sa- (or se-) in pasang Pair
front of the classifier-nounthat gives you the unit of measure:secangkir pqtmg twig
tih' a cup of tea,' satin ikan sadin' a canof sardines.'Sakati dagin babi,'a pintu 'door,'classifierfor apartments or houses,shops,
in a longhouse
kati (Chinese pound) of pork.' Sa- means 'one,' which English 'a' also etc. rn a row.
meantoriginally. pucok long pointed things, spears, letters
pun 'stand,' of trees
Occasionally the noun of the thing countd will be placed at the head of the
raban set of people or things
phrase,and the numerical classifierwill follow:
repik thin split pieces
Ind.aiJarwu ngaga' tuak dua igi'tojau. 'Mother-of-Janau[has] made ruas joint, spacebetween nodes in a bamboo
rice-wine twojars,' 24 slngkap small rigid things, plates and shingles
tandan cluster, bunch of fruit e.g. bananas
Some other numerical classifiers
telian one of a series, a stanza of poetry
agih things shared out, such as fish and vegetables tunpk goup; lump
qris rows (Malay baris is also used)
belah planted gound, applied n amai 'farlr.,' kebun 'garden,' redas A historical digression, the prefixes ke' arul ge'
'kitchen plot'
While I am not attempting to write a historical grammar of Iban, certain of
bentok items of jewelery
the language's features can be understood only by explaining their history
bidnng things spread oul esp. of land
and what their original purpose was. Among these features are the prefixes
bilah bladesand knives
ke- and ge--
cebik things that are tom, such a pieces of leaf, cloth, or paper
emprun a 'portion' of food, or tlle contents of a container Many Iban words begin with the syllable ke or ge. In many of these words
Senteran a sentenceor portion of speech; a stanza of poetry these syllables have been an integral part of the word from as far back as
'notch'; step in a ladder or stair we can see;it is merely part of the word's sound.
gulong things in rolls. string, mats
Example'. kebun' g?Ided Setah' ftee-l^tx'
ikat bundle; things tied (iftat) together
kayu' things in long lengths or bars, longhouses You cannotseparatethesewords out into *ke + bunor *ge + talr. However,
kelapis sheet, of rubber many other words appear to have been formed in very ancient times by
kerat cut length or piece, morsel putting a special ft- or g- in front of another syllable or syllables
kipi' compact mass, cake
kiping All languages employ the device of onomatopoeia in rnaking words An
flat things: planls, plywood, rubber-sheets
lambar shet: skirts (&cin), cloth, leaves onomatopoeiais a word made up in imitation of a sound, like English
lampang big piece of a thing: wood, meat 'swoosh.'25 In Iban, as well as in other Austronesianlanguages,a sound
lebuen rounded hollow things, gongs, fish-traps like cah isjust a sound. However, te- can be prefixed to a onomatopoeiato
make it into an actual word. There are many such formations in lban. Amrtng
23 'One penon' is si&o' =sa + iko'] orang. Note:Malaysfinalusing 'tail' in connectionl^]itlr a few are:
[
humanbeingsdistastelll. cah (+ ke-\ -> kecah' chatler' lverbal form engkecahl
U BI3 , p. 37. F- th. ,*aning of abbreviations,seerhebibliography. rukap (+ ge-) -s geratcp 'squeal,squeak'

30
 Balinese contains a large variety of words formed from onomatopoeias:
Balinese: geblag 'the sound of a door banged shut'
keplak 'the sotnd of a firecracker blowing up'
The names of the most ancient musical instruments in the classical
lavanese gamelan orchesha are so formed:
Javanese: ketuk 'the thing that goes "tuk" '
kenong 'the thing that goes "nong" '
kempul 'the thingthat goes "pul" '
and of course gong itself, which is an instrument of such dignity that its
sound is a good enough name without a grammatical fixture. Another word
common to both Iban and Malay is gendang, the term for drum or for
music with drums, which can be analyzedge-n-dang-
This useofte- and ge-, being so widespread,is very old. My beliefis that
the use of fte- and ge- to form words from onomatopoeiasshows most
clearly the prefixes' basicfunction, which is to converfnotions into words
or to convert words from one category to another. 26 Iban also uses
/.e- and ge- to form words that have more to with feeling or action than with
sound. The idea is that people describedsomething in terms of a vocal
soundthey made.up,as ifto say 'this is what it would soundlike if it had a
sound.' the result can be either a noun or an adiective.or a verb-root.
kebap 'flap of wings.' 27
kebut 'mo\e, budge'
kecit'squirl'
kedap 'ptslse of hean'
kenyit'stmled'
kenyut'throb'
gerit'nibble'
gegar'shake, shiver'
25 Onomatopoeia
is, however, not just a kind of word-play, but one of the impoftant means by
which words are created. For example,the word for'goose'in the American Indian languag
Naragansettwas ,,ort English :goose' itself gos back to the samesourceas of the Sansknr
word,aiisa The main sound ofthis word, [h5], is very close to ,honk.' W]atcouldbe more
natural? The Sanskit is also the ancestorof the Iban word for goose,anra. English and lban
have each yet another word that shares a common origin in Sanskit. Ibanpdla,,head' dedves
irom Sanskit kapAia 'pot'; the sameancesfal root shows up in English as .gab].'
26It may be possible
that in this function the preiix &e- is relatedto the relative pronoun lg,
but this needs a deeper look.
-' Always used in reduplicated form: kebap-kebap.
It is likely that many of the Iban words beginning with ke and ge
originatedthis way, but the investigationis outside the range of this book.
While /re- is easily recognized as a prefix in nouns made out of
onomatopoeias, in these examples I have listed above the [e- is an
inseparable part of the word. One does not use /ryil in the sense of
'startled,'or gar in the senseof 'shake.'With most Iban nounsor verb-roots
that begin with ke-, this syllable should be considered an integral and
inseparabte part of the word. 28
Ke- as a separable prefix is still used. When it attached to a number, it
makes an ordinal:
dua'two', kedua'second'; lapan'eight' kelapan'eighth.'
Likewise, when te- comesbeforeterubah'at first' it makesfeterubah'first,'
and when it comes before diri, the reflexive pronoun 'self,' the result is
kediri 'alone, by oneself/itseli'
Prefaced to a reduplicated numeral, f- makes a word that stands for'all
(however many) of X':
Ketiqa-tigapun lensataku bebuahmagang. 'All three of my lensat
treesare fruitins.' 29
A good example, though, of how understanding the old function of &e- (or
ge-) might be useful is the etymology of the word kemudi 'stern of boat '
This word can be analyzed and found to contain the root udi 'after, behind,'
which we also seein dudi. Kemudi, then, is udi made into a noun by having
/re- prefixed to it. The -zr- comes in the middle to make the transition
betweenthe two vowels. Then tlere is a type of large wasp with a painful
sting called a kerawoi. The bright yellow band around its abdomen
resembles the gidle or brass of silver rings called rawai, wom by women.
This inSectthen is 'the thing with the rawai.'
We can use this method to discover the etymology of words whoseorigins
are forgotten, such askenyalang 'rhir,oceros hombill,' (the most magnificent
of the hornbills and a bird very significant in Iban religion). I propose that
kenyalang can be analyzedas follows: ke-nya-lang.As we saw with thc
word menyanak above, the -ttya- portion derives from sa- 'with-/together'
28 ln Malay, Iban's closestrelative, the prefix te- is widely usedto make abstraclnou,rso l ol-
rcots or other nouns. The combination te- plus root is always followed by thc suliix rtrt
Examples:/aJd 'king' kemjaan'government' , sihat'healthy' kesihah hcalth.' lbrn docs nol
use the suffix -dn, with the single exceplion of the word t ruflar, 'anccstry, desccnt.'
29str2 o.26.
 When pe- is used before some words beginning in b the prctix can appear
by naselization. l.cng is the name of anotherbird, the Brahminy kite, the aspem:,
biggestraptor in Sarawakand the bird that tops the list of the sacredIban
berita' news'pemberita' newspaper'
omen-birds. I believe that the hombill's name,Kenyaldn8,means'the bird
berani'btave' pemberani' courage'
equal to, or together with Lang, the eagle.' The hornbill may not be an
omen-bird, but it as important in Iban religion as Lang is. Likewise, This way of making words is a handy one,becauseyou can improvisc with
gelinggam'paint' and,belinggam'sophisticated'may ultimately go back to it and make complex words from simpler words to expressall sorts of
Satstrit linggam 'mark, sign.' concepts. If nakni means 'to eat,' what should pemakai mean? 'Frxrd,'
naturally. And if irup means'to drink'(hint: esp. alcohol), what should
Although its role in nouns was fixed long ago, the prenx &e- does play a
pengirup mean? Modem Iban usespe- to createnew words for new things:
role in the formation of some verbs where it can be analvzed as a seoarable
piece of grammatical plumbing. We will talk more at iength about these szran'line, groove,' penyuran'ruler, straightedge,'
usesof ke- in the sectionon verbs ahead. SinceIban can make abstact nouns,it can often expressthings in the same
'sophisticated'way we use in English. Instead of saying sirnply Maioh
Agent and abstract noan$ the preftx pe-
orang! Peda-mih! 'Lots ofpeople, look!' you can say Peda-mdhpemaioh
The prefix pe- put onto the beginning of a verb makesan agent-noun,that mensia nya'! 'Look at the quantity of humanity!' As in English, these
is, the word for somebodywho does a particular action, or the name of a abstract nouns often have a very specific meaning; one possibility is fixed,
thing that does something,or an abstractnoun. and others are excluded. To giye the answer to my questionjust above,
pengirup does not mean 'something to drink' but'drunkardi' penyengok
ajar,'teach' pengajar 'teacher'
(from jengok'peek') means 'window' and nothing else.
pe gai 'ltold' p emega i' holder, handle.'
buka"open' pemuka' 'opel:]et' Adjectives
kat 'to hook' pengait 'hook'
The purpose of an adjective is to describe some attribute or quality of a
mansang'go forward' pemansang'progress'
noun. In a phrasesuchasatak besai'abig child' we say that the adjective,
besai, modifies the nolurr,annk. Adjectives in Iban always follow the noun
Note that the verb has to be converted from the root form to the nasalized
they modify, according to the general rule about the relationship of two
form. Nasalizationwill be explainedin the sectionon verbs below.
words one after another.
i The begininning sound of a noon or an adjective also must be nasalized
Aka meda' anak besalnyc' 'I seethe big child.'
before pe- can be prefixed to it, except when that sound is nr, which
remainslhe same. When an adjective follows the noun like this it is said to be in the
anrib ive position-
2zrnas'sunshine' pemanas'heat', also (by metaphor),'angry
temper' The other way an adjective can be used is to make an assertion about
kemas'neat cleaf pengemas'neatness,cleanliness.' something; as we said above in the section on the omission of 'to be,' an
maioh'many lmuch' pemaioh' qnantity' adjective can be apredicate. Aprej'icats adjective in a copulative sentence
berdt'hea\y' pemerat'weight' can precede the noun that is the subject of the sentence,
menah'bea\tifitJ' pemanah'beauty'
Badasjako'nuan. 'Your speech[is] fine.'
Before words that begin in I or r, the syllable -zge- is inserted after the
pe- and before the word to be converted. This word order puts more stress on the predicate. Or the adjective can
follow the noun.
lama' old, long' pengelama'peiod. of time'
Jako' nuan badas.
rami 'lots ofpeople, crowded'pengerami 'a thronging, a gathering'
rindu' 'tolove' pengeindu' 'loye' However, an adjectivewhen usedas a predicatethis way, unlike the way it

35
34
 is used to mark an attribute, is always separatedfrom the noun. In the last
example, if you took away tbe nuan 'yo]u', then you would havejako, badas.
The feeling of a sentncewould be desnoyed and you'd be left with a
phrasemeaningmerely 'fine speech.'
On the other hand, if the predicate adjective shows the result of the action
done to something, it follows the noun.
Iya ngecqt prau iya kuning. 'He painted,his boat yellow.,
More on noun plus noun or adjective in the genitive position.
The genitive positioning of two words, noun or adjective,has a range of
usesin Iban which extend beyond simply indicating possession.A noun
can follow another noun and be understood,as the object of an action the
first noun performs on it.
pemuka' botol 'an openerof a bottle' 'a bottle-opener'
A noun in the genitive position can be the thing for whose beneft the
first exists.
rumqh manok'thehouse of [for] the chickens' .chicken-house'
ubat bedil'chemical [lit. 'medicine'] of [for] the gun' ,gunpowder'
baja sayur 'fertilizer of [for] vegetables''vegetable-fertiliier,
And a noun in the genitive position can indicate from where the first
comes,or of where it is characteristic.
orang Amerika 'a personof [in, from] America, ,American,
ikan sungqi 'a fish of [in, out of] the river' ,river-fish,
beras umai 'uncooked rice of [from] the farm' ,farm-rice.,
Poetic Iban extends this last use of the genitive position to express .like' or
'as' without having to use a preposition. In this examplethe noun follows
a verb:
buloh baoh ngelanggai bayan 'the tall bamboo curving-erect [like] a
parakeeC[i.e. with its long, pointy leavesgrowing out like the tail feathers
of a parakeetl.ru
Ar adjective can be followed by a noun to show in what respect the quality
of the adjectiyeis shown:
lontang ati 'easy at heart' = 'happy'
berqt tulang 'heavy of bone' = 'lazy'

30 Masing,Comingof the Gods ,v.2, p.5

Buloh baoh ngelanggai bayan

36
 ij au rumput' glass-gra,en-'
The normal way these phrases are pronounced, with no brcak between the
two words and a slight stresson the second element, shows they are phrases
and not clipped sentences.
Or a noun can follow an adjective to show what the adjective's quality is
characteristicof, to show 'like' or'as':
berani babi'braveflike al pig' i.e. 'wants to do somethingbut has no
skill'
angat tai' mano^k'hot[as] chicken droppings' i.e. 'enthusiastic for a
moment only.' rr
Nouns and adjectives, etc., can be put together in the genitive and
attributive positions to make long compounds. The elaborate praise-names
of heroes and gods in Iban epic in poetry can consist of many elements.
Cornpounds
An exception to the general rule about two words in a row is the creating of
coErpounds. Iban is fond of putting two words together to make
compounds that express the pairing of things or concePts commonly
associated. The compound can be understood as a single word.
Nol!'ns:asu' mayau'dogs-cats'; ru]nok itit' chickens-ducks'i.e.'poultry;'
paku' -tubu'fems-bambooshoots'i.e.'vegetables.'
Adjectives: clap angot'cold-hot' [ofmalaria: satit 'sickness' cilap angat].
Adverbs: kin kin' 'thither-hither,' iaras kebaroh 'up-down' siang malam
'daylight-nighf [i.e. a period of 24 hours]
\erbs: pilai rwnsang 'retum-go out' nurun niki 'go down-go up'
Or a mixture: maioh-macqm 'many-type/like, as' (adjective plus nour/
preposition) i.e. a variety of things:
Reduplication
A feature of Iban, and of all other Austronesian languages, is reduplication.
Reduplication means 'doubling by repetition' which about explains it. In a
very ancient stageofAustronesian, people used reduplication to make words
out of onomatopoeias.A good example is *cucu, formed from a sucking
noise like tsya. ihis proto--word evolved into the Iban word last 'breast '3f

3l Theseexamplesarc 'proverbs'takenfrom the collection of Christy Duitl

Tanggl. "rrrprnajd&o'
In modernIban the result of reduplicationis a specialtype ofcompound of
two members, both members the same. The compound has a different
meaningfrom that of the single word otrt of which it is tbrmed.
Nouns can be reduplicated.
qnek 'child' : arutk-an&k.
This compound could be taken to stand for a simple plural 'children,'
except that there is a different feel to it. Anak-anak can be thought of as
'children in generalwith their variety.'
Iban uses reduplication more sparingly than some other Austronesian
languages,such as Polynesian,and some words that were once used, it
seems, with a futl reduplication have been reduced to a partial
reduplication. Certain Iban words usually appearin fully reduplicated form,
for example,kebap-&ebop(describingthe beating of a bird's wings), and
ligauJigau'short-sighted, confused,' mucai-mucai,33'sad-faced, ready
to cry.'People will often 'swallow' the last syllable ofthe first element,so
the first two words come out soundingkeba-kebap,liga-ligau.
Adjectives are often reduplicated. Reduplicationgives them a feeling of
intensity or of generality
mit-rzit 'small-small': 'very small';34 mirah-mirah 'red-red': 'very
red,' 'reddish,' 'generallyred.'
Verbswhen reduplicatedexpressrepeatedaction,or continuousprolonged
action, or intense action, or all three together.
Ukoi nya' nyalak-nyalzk 'The dog barks [and] barks.'
In the case of intransitive verbs (see below), it is the root that is
reduplicated, and then the result takes the prefix be-.
Iya belawa-lawa. 'He runs [and] runs.'
But when the whole verb is reduplicated, the result gives the feeling of
somethinghappeninghabitually,but not continuously:
lya belawa-belawa 'He is running around often.'
Many adverbs are formed by reduplication to express that something is
32 Dahl,eustronesian p. to.
33 Not foundin Richards.
34 Co^pare mit-mit'ftny' wilh tuimit'few.' ln mim, two wordshavefusedinto anothernew
38
happening during the whole of a Period.
Sahari-hari aku ngereia tanah. Aku tindok semalam-malam. 'The
whole day I worked the grounds.I slept all night.'
Partial reduplication
Certain Iban words show a partial reduplication at their beginnings. These
words usually start with d, g, j, k, I, but there are examples beginning with
other consonants. Sometimes the loot word can be used in fully
reduplicated form as well as partially reduplicated; other times there is no
fully reduplicated form: originally the root may have been doubled but in
the course of time the li$t element has been reducedto a single syllable
de-, ge-,je-, ke-, le-, etc. prefixed to the root word.
dedanga' : root dunga" sittdr,EidlY'
gegiau'qriveing' : root giau 'tall and thin'
jejabong : rootiabong'hair decoratinga parang-handle'
kekesut'gvsl' : root kesut 'blow lofwind]'
lelingkok : root lingkok 'bent'
tetengok : rcot tenSok 'crave for'
We saw with the example laki it the section on Pronunciation that
originally the word was always used in fully reduplicated form; in Malay
'male' is still lqki-laki. Later on Iban (and Malay) replaced the first
element with the abbreviated le-, and thewordbeoame lelaki; yet today this
le- is so 'swallowed' that there is almost nothing left of it.
Nonetheless, it's important to remember that the reduplication is still
there in some spiritual sense,and will be realized when speechmoves
from a casual, colloquial level to a high, formal plane.
Partial reduplication conveys the same senses and emphases as full
reduplication, a little more compactly.
Do not confuse the syllables be, ge, ke, and te, when they occur as the first
element of a partial reduplication with the lttre-fixesbe-, qe-lke-, a\d te-.
Adverbs
Adverbs often don't look any different from adjectives. r<uat is both 'strong'
and 'strongly.'Lik adjectives, adverbs follow the word they modify. 1ya
jampqt bejak)' 'She is quick [at] talking.' Iya ka' datqi iampat 'She will
arrive quickly.' Amat jako' nuan. 'Your words are lr\e' Kayu tu' berat
amat. 'This wood is truly heaYy.' Tepung kopi abis 'The coffee-powder is
finished'; Blq nya' abis di-baca aftu'The book was read completely by
me.' But there are words that are never used except as adverbs, such as
39
 selalu 'alvrays,'suah'often,'jarany ,rarcly,'aja',merely,' ngapa
'in vain, to no point.' The testto distinguishbetweenthe two tinds iJ that
adjective-adverbscan modif both nouns and verbs, while true adverbs
can modify only verbs. Do not be misled by sentencessuch as the
following:
Hari suahangatdi Sarawak.'The weather[is] often hot in Sarawak'
becausethe adverbsaaftis modif ing the verb ,to be' omitted in speech.
'PerhapVmaybe'canbe expressedin two ways.Ezgta is placedwithin the
sentence,lik Jki&. Another word, tini, stands uallv at the end of the
sentenceor ph-rase:
Iya udahnurunka unmikini. 'Perbapsshe'salreadygoneto thefarm.,
TVo Iban adverbsdeservespeialnotebecausetley often expressideasfor
which English usesadjectives.Theseare magang ajrrd.
abii. Both mean
approdmately 'all,' but differ in nuanc.e.Magang hasthe force of .each
andeveryone' while aDrbgivesthesenseof Tnished,andthus.comDletelv.
enti-rely.'
Sida' Sebandimindah kn Batang Kayan magang. ,Ttre Sehandr
peopleall movedto the BatangKayan [river].'
Kaminyualbuahrian kamiabis.'We soldall of our durians.'
Adjectives used as adverbscan be made more adverbial in feel bv
reduplication.Aki' ngukir papan mdja tu' lubah-lubaft ,Grandfatherii
carvingthat boardfor the tableslowly [='carefuily]., Sometimesthe idea
of an.adverbis expressedby addinganotherverb:
lya makni asi'iyabeguai-guai.'He eatshisrice hurriedly.,
!,gip ny.a'di-jualbebatang-batang.,Those
pipesaresoldby thepiece
llit: 'stickby stick'l
Ari katia' turun-menurun kami bwnai dira.,.From ancient dmes
generationafter generationwe havefarmedhere.'
The secondexampleherepointsout a differencebetweenIban andEnelish
grammar. WhereEnglish usesadverbs,Iban tikes to use verbs,or ime
other means. :llhe conceptof 'almost,'for example,in Iban can oe
expressedin two ways, neither of which uses an adverb. Where an
English+peakerwould say 'It is almost day,' an Iban would sayMalam
nyau l<asiang lNight is becomingday.' The English .The rice is almost
rip; islban Padi nya'udah murai,lit'erally 'is alreadyin the ear., Anyone
familiarwith tlte rice-cyclewill knowexaetlywhatstag;thericehasreached.
Q
One can also usephrasssuchassemdftfa or datnpingka'near to:' Kitdi
iinbk ka nya''We'realmosttheie.'Ontheotherhand,Ibanphrases things
like 'Dinneris almostready'asKitai ka' makaienda'lama'agi' 'We will
eatnot longfrom now'
Such a sentenceas Iya bebaju Dirur'He wears a blue shirt,' illustrates
anothersubtledifferencebetweenlban and English grammar. Sinceonly
adverbs,in Eqglish,canmodify verbs,we might feel that if we werebeing
strict we'd have to ffanslate this sentencewith the absurd words 'He
is-be-shirtedbluely.' lnfact,biruhercis a trueadjectiveandit modifiesthe
nounconceptheld inside the yerb bebaju,baju 'shirt.'
Comparison of a{iective
The comparativedegreeof the adjective is madeby placing the adverb
agi', 'more,' in aftertheadjective:
Tu'besaiagi'. 'This is bigger.'
Thewordfor 'than' is an 'from.'
Baju ti' embaragi' ari siti' nyii 'This shirt is more expensivethan ihat
one,'
A senseof progressingintensity is gainedby reduplicatingthe adjective
andattachingthe prefix sd- to the se.ondelement:
mlmsau-aam,enseu'riper andriper'
c6lap-sacClap'colder andcolder'
jaoh-sajaoh 'farther andfarther'
The superlativedegreeis madeby placing the wordpemadu' (from badu'
(frorn mtbMabis'complete, fi nished)'
' finistrcd') or pengambis/pengabis
in front of the adjective:
Nya'penudu'/pengabisbesai. 'That's the biggest.'
or by usingtheexpressionagi' ari semua''morethanall.'
Tu'nanah agi' ari semna'.'Thisis thebestof all.'
Bungapabna bungabesaiagi' ari semua'di dunia. 'The rafflesia is
the biggestfloiver in the world.'
Adverbsarecomparedin the sameway.
Akurindu' tu' lebih agi' ari tu' 'I like ftrs morethanr/rrs.'
To saythatsomethingis thi sameas-something elseyou saytu 'sarwlenggau
tz' 'This is the samewith this.' r) To saythat somethingis the sameas
4l
 somethingelse with regard to a certain quality, you put the prefix s4- in
front of the adjective: Ikan tengiri sanyamai ikan salmon. 'Tengiri-fish is
as tasty as salmon.'
The idea that somethingis '/oo X' is expressedby placingthe word kelalu
'too' in front ofthe adjective:
Kelalu mnioh orang 'too many people.'
In dialects influenced by SarawakMalay, speakersplace the word gila'
'too' after the adjective:
Sahari tu' panas gila' 'Today is too hot.'
The prefii salse-
A prefix we have aheady seenattachedto numerical classifiers,and,just
above,to adjectivesis sa-. The original word for 'one'in Iban was.ra, as
we can seefrom the ritual beginning to sampi, prayers: Sa,d.ua,tiga, empat,
lima,., etc. The modem word is sata. .Sa-can also appear as se-. you will
hear saknyu' 'one tree [numericalclassifier] of..', but seftngah,one halfl'
and setuju'agree' becauses4- goes better with the vowel a in the first
word, and se- goes better with the 6 and the u in the others. This is called
vowelharmony.
The conceptof'one' in sa- allows this prefix to extend to other naturally
connected meanings and uses.
Sa- in front of a noun or adjertive can give the meaning ,all' to it:
bilik 'apafimentinalonghouse' (or 'room') .rabifik ' everybody who
lives in an apartmenf that is, 'family'
lama' 'old,long' (of time) selama' 'usual'
Aku arap ka nuan enggau kim sabilik gerai nyanwi baka selqma, ,I
hope you and [your] family are healthy and content as usual., [a
standard phrase in letlersl.
Semua' 'all' can be analyzedas se- + mua' (or moa') 'many': 'tlte
whole many.'
Thus, sa- with an abstract noun with prefix pe- can mean ,as much X as
possible.' The result acts as an adverb:
35 Saza can tre usedasan adverb,or ii the phrasesana enggau
X, btJt notall alonein the
senseof 'same.' The prcper word for this is bela:' Peneka'ili' ngambi' siti,' beta' nagant
'Takeany one you like, they're all the same.'R.
42
.L
kcring 'stxong,' sapengering: 'wilh all one's strength;'
Kami nakai ikan sepemuas nyawa. 'We ate fish [to thl utter
satislactionof our mouths.' 36 [ From puas 'satisfied' I
Sa- can indicate 'same.' W have seenjust abovehow Ja- plus an adjective
means'ofthe samequality' with somethingelse. Sd- can also be usedwith
verb roots and in verbs:
Kami duai setuju. 'We two agrce' ['aim-the-same']
Kitai menyanak mudik kin. 'We with-our-children are going upstream
thither.'
And ofcourse-just to repeat-J4- can mean 'one' when it is prefixed to a
numerical classifier:
Aku udah ngirup kopi o peng segelas. 'I already drant one glass of
black ice coffee.' 37
Note: the sa- or J- that often begins place names is |lrt the same as our
prefix here, but another word. I'll talk about it at the end of the book.
Body Language
Ibans use their bodies a lot when speaking, and convey much meaning by
their actionsin the context. In the sontenceAkurindu'tu'qgi' [herea pause]
ori tu' above, a person may be looking at two, say, colors of paint, or two
boats out of several tied up at a landing. He'll point first to the one, and
then to the other. For other distinctions of 'this' and 'that,' an Iban may
say tu' 'this' and contrastthat with nya' din' 'thatthete.'
The usual Iban greeting is Kini nuan? 'Whither [are] you [going]?' and
whether a person answers t4 pdJar 'to town' or simply /.ttt 'that way,' h or
she will look in the direction of the path with a significant nod, or point
with the tip of the thumb, or sometimes---specially if their hands are full-
point with a 'pout' of the lips.
Comparisons of size almost never go expressedin language without a
gesture accompanying them, and much of the time the thing to which
something is being compared is the speaker's body, which is not
rnentioned, but shown. A typical scene could go like this:
36enJ. p.5.
37The a hereis Chioese,'black (wilh suga!),' petg is 'ice.' since mostcoffeshopsarerun by
Chinese,the vocabularyfor orderingfood containsmany Chinesewords,which everybody
knows.Gelar is of courseEnglish.
43
I
 Ni mesaiikan di-tangkapnuan tedi? 'How big is [the] fish caught
by youjust now?'
B: Mesai tu'. 'Big [as] this.' [B makesthe thumbs and forefingersof
a both handsinto a circle around his thigh.l
Pronouns,
The pronoun is a word that standsin for other nounswhich you don't want
to keep repeating. Pronouns come in several types, of which the most
important in speech arc tlrc personal ptonouns. The personal pronouns in
Iban parallel those of English in the way they indicate relationships
between speakers,and whether they are one or many, as 'I,' 'you,' 'we,'
'they' etc., but Iban pronouns,like Iban nouns,look the samewhetherthey
act as the subject or object of a verb (there is no 'llme' 'he/him'
distinction), and do not indicate gender(no 'he/' 'she' distinction.)
aku I/me
nuan, di', koa you (singular,older English 'thou/' 'thee')
rya (also spelled ra) hefrim, she/her
kitai welus(includesthepersonyou'retalkingto)
kami welus (exclules ttrepersonyou're talking to)
kita' you (plural)
sida' they/them.
Whethera pronounis a subjert or an object is indicatedby its position in
the sentence.
Aku tneda'kita' 'I seeyou [plural,thrceor more].'
Kita'meda'aku,'You seeme.'
The personalpronounsare also usedwhen they standin for the indirect
object,that is, the penon for whosebenefitsomebodydoessomething.
Aku mei iya duit nya'. 'I am givinghim themoney.'
Justas thereare no separatesubjecVobjectforms of the pronoun,thereis
no possessive prodoun('my,' 'his' 'her' 'their') in Iban. To indicate
possession,thepronoungoes,like anynoun,into thepossessive position.
Tu'manokaku. 'This is my chicken.'
Nya' itit iya. 'Thatis herduck.'
Notice the two words for 'we/us.' Kitoi meanst}lat the oerson vou're
talkingto is includedin the senseof 'we;' but karnimeansthattheperson
you're talking to is not included. Aram kitai nurun ka sungai. 'Let's
[all] go down to the river'Buq Kami barupulai ari Kuching,'We lnot
youl just got backftom Kuching.'
44
The word used fo! 'you' (singular) varies from area to area in Sarawak.
Nuan is the'standard' form heard in the Saribas area of the Second
Division; di'is used in Sri Aman, and iaa is the word used by the
Sebuyau Ibans of the First Division (which other Ibans think sounds a
little funny). 38
Another pronoun form is wortlt leaming for the sake of elegance When
Ibans talk about two people,as opposedto one or more than two, they like
to use what is called a dual fom.
Tua bara pulai ari pasar 'The two of us [inclusive] are just now
retumed from tlte market,'
Katni duai... 'We two' [exclusive]...
Kita' duqL.. 'You two...'
39
Seduainya-..' 'They two, the two of thm...' or, 'both of them.'
Seduai can alsobe |jsed as ifit were 'with.' Charles seduai hpai iya nurun
nginti'. 'Charles went fishing with his father.' Often the xe- is omitted and
daal alone is used. The phrase *cfttr seduni Xnever occvs.
The first person pronouns in all numbers, and the third person pronouns in
the dual and the plural are very often followed by a demonstative. A
personwill sayA,lratu' or kami ta'in orderslightly to emphasizethat this is
their action or opinion, and people will say seduai iya or sida iyd in order to
'place' the persons they're speaking about at a short distance. 1ya here is
not the pronoun 'he/she' but rather a very weak demonstrative meaning
'there.' The idiom sida'iyatherefotedoes not mean 'they ofhim'but rather
'they there.'
,|t,
But, you might ask here, why have I left out 'it'? The treatmentof things
that are 'it' in Iban is a little more complex lian in English. Since very
ancient times Europeanlanguageshave classified nouns by gender: they
are male, or female, or neitler, 'neuter.' Neuter nouns, in other words, are
just 'things,' but things considered as sharing a solid third of the
community of all nouns in the language. Thus, languages like English
possessa set of pronounsfor all three genders:'he,' 'she,' 'it.'
Iban has no genders. However, Iban does make a tacit distinction between
38 However,toa is the olalestIban word for 'you' as can be seenby its close relationshjP
wilhMilay engkau,lavaneseftoltl, andPolyoesianftte, all goingbackto Proto-Austronesian
*ka lDahl,p. 122].
39 English 'both' alsobeganlife asa dual form.
45
I

nouns for animate beings as opposed to nouns for inanimate objects.
Inanimateobjectsare here,linguistically speaking,definitely secondclass.
This differenceis reflectedin the way Iban usespronounsfor 'it.'
Iban speakersdo not personify inanimate objects as much as English
speakersdo. In English we may talk about an 'angry sea.' Directry
translated into Iban, this would sound forced to native ears. Likewise whers
we would say 'This faucet requiresa half-inch thread,' an Iban would say
Kitui mesd ngena' pqip setdngah inci ka tdp tz ' 'We need to use a half-inch
pipe with this tap,' or TAptu' begunaka paip setdngahinci'This tap goes
into usewith a half-inch pipe.' To sayTApnya'minra... 'The tap asksfor...'
('ask for'is what English 'requires' means)would sound ludicrously as if
the tap were talking. Iban, with a very few exceptions, avoids talking of
things as capable of willful actions as if they were people, and to be aware
of this will help you avoid getting tangled in awkward espressions.
But, 'it.' The one personalpronoun in the seriesabovethat can be usedfor
'it' is rya. 1yais slighdy emphatic.
Kati nuan meda' kapal nya' tadi? 'Did you seethe shipjust now?'
Aku meda' iya. Iya madik &''L 'I saw it. It was going up river
there.'
The demonstrativerrya' 'that' 'that there' is very commonly usedfor ,it' or
'them' when referring to inanimatethings, almostalwayswhen the thing or
things mentionedas the ob;ecl of a verb.40
A: Kati nuon meda' igi' 4l lampu di pasar? 'Did you see[any]
lightbulbs in town?'
B: Aku meda' nya' 'I saw them.'
The demonstrative pronoun tU' 'this' can also be used for inanimate
objects.
Iktt-mah tu' ba k{tyu' nyi\. 'Tie it ['this'] on the tree there.'
In talking about inanimate objects, the noun atai 'thing' does a lot of work.
The phrasesutai tu' arld utai nya' 'this thing' 'that thing' can often be
translated'it.'
4YB. JimmyDonaldgavemea colloquialphmsein whichrla'is
usedin thesenseof.it,as
the subjectof a sentence.Supposea bunchofpeople havebeendrinking rrat, andasthey've
beentalkingonepersonnoticesthereis a bottleleft Ny' med!'kiteihe says:.It's lookingat
us.' He's encouragingthe party to continuealrinking,andbeingwitty by mildly personirying
the ric-wine,
4l lgi' hereis a bit old-fashioned.Many lbansnow saybab
tampu lFjnllish'b\tlb'.].
A: Nqmoutai nya'? 'What [is] thatthing?'
'Itis called [an] .,engkerurai,'
B: Utttitu' di-kumbaieng.kerurai- [a
musicalinstrumenil.'42
Reflexivepronouns
In a sentencewhere someonedoes somethingto himself or herseli',the
object is expressedby a refexive pronoun. The Iban reflexive pronounis
atn .
Iya meda'diri' dalam cermin. 'He seeshimself in the minor.,
For more emphasis, diri' empu is used.
Iya ngubat diri' empz. 'He treats ['medicines'] himself.,
Diri', diri' empu, etc. are also used for 'myself' ,yourself, .him-/herself'
and so on when the subjectis being ernphasized.
Aka empungaga' nya'. 'I made it myself.'
Nya' di-gaga' diri' empu. 'ltwas madeby [my]self.,
And also in the possessiveposition:
Sid.a'nadai nemu nyaup pangan diri' 'They don't know [hirw] to help
their own friends.' R.
Demonstrative pronouns
A demonstative pronoun makes tlle distinction between .this, and .that.'
After the sectionon 'it' above, it should be clear that a, is Iban for ,this,,
somethingnear at hand, and nyc'is 'that,', somethingfarther away.
Tu'arnk kami. 'This [is] our child.'
Nya' tunggal nuan. 'That [is] your cousin.'
Tu'and nya'in the attributive position, after a noun, function like
adjectives, in the same way as the English demonstrative pronouns ,this'
and 'that' become adjectives.
Aku rindu ka pematci rr '. 'I like this food.'
Aku bedau meda' buah nye' . 'Ihave rrot yet seen that fruit.'
Zr' has the strong meaning of 'this right here.' You will seethat the adverb
'herc' is ditu' , 'now' is diatu' , and in fact t& ' is often short for both. Iban
42 Note:-Sup-pose
you seesomeoneholding something andyouE y Baa$ utui iya! meani(ry
to say 'His,thiog is nice.' This will get you a laugh,bcauserrtai with a petsonalpronoun
means'his/her,my, etc. thingie'i.e. genitals,

46 47
speakers, in order specify more precisely how close or how far away a
thing is, will use ll'and nya,' or attachone or anotheradverbof place.
lltai /u' 'this thing here'
utai nya' 'that thir.gtherc'
utai nya' diq' 'tl:.a!ttling there' [rather near, specific]
utai nya' dinlnyin 'that thing there' [farther away and vaguer]
People will ordinarily accompany such an expressionwith a litde body
language, pointing directly, or waving vaguely, in the direction of the thing
they ari referring to. The intensity of the gesture further specifies the
degreeof closenessor distance.
Nya' at th beginning of a sentencecan be quite emphatic-
Nya'iyal 'That's him!' 'That's it!'
-sometimes emphaticto the point of sarcasm.
As we have said, Ibans, when spefing of themselves,will often add ta'
the the first person pronoun, to give the 'I' or'we' a weak emphasis,or
slightly to distinguish their own position from someoneelse's.
Aku tu' nadai bisi' meda' iya. 'lhere didn't get to seehim.'
'Some'
'Some' is se*eda', which is generallyusedwith a noun or anotherpronoun
following in the possessiveposition.
Sekeda'sida'nemu ngereja besi-'Some of them know [how to] work
iron [blacksmithing].'
Be aku sekeda'atai nya ' 'Give me someof that.'
lban sekeda' means'a certain number out of a specific group.' Although
English uses 'some'in the senseof 'few'and 'a few,'or as an indefinite
pronoun, Iban will use phrasesllke nadqi maioh'not many' or dua-tiqa
itwo-three,' or, in the case of people for example,
iust say bisi' orang
'there arelwere people,'
Bisi' orang ti' maca sarat ari D.O- di-lekat ba dinding kedai. 'Some
people weie reading the letter posted by the District Officer on the wall
of the shop.'
Indefinite pmnouns
An indcfinite proto\n takes up the required grammatical spot in a sentence
when you're speaking in general, or don't need or want to specify someone
or something in particular. The all-purpose indefinite pronoun is simply
48
orang 'human being,'which dependingon context can mean .somebody,,
'a certain person,' or 'people.'
Orang nelepon ngagai nuan ndi. 'Somebody telephonedyoujust now.'
Aku betemuenggau orang di pasar 'I met with somebodyin town.'
Orang nurun magang nubai. 'People all went down to fish with
poison.'
In the last example, you could translate orang...magang as 'everybody.,
Sometimesorazg means 'someoneelse.'
Anang niki' ka rutnah orang! 'Don't go into [other] people'shouses!,
Iya pindah ka negei orang, 'He moved to someone [else's] country.,
Mensia'htmanbeing/humanity' can also be usedas an indefinite pronoun.
Anak mensia 'a human being' [literally 'a child of man.']
Sapa mensia nyin? 'Who is that person there?'
The word iban itself has the primary meaning of 'ordinary person, man,
fellow, guy,' anyone except a lemambang'bard, poet,' or a manahg
'witch-doctor.'
Bisi' iban di kedqi tu'2 'Is there anybody in this shop?'
To openthe possibilitiesfurther andexpress'anybody' 'anything,'the word
barang 'any' 'whatever'goes before a pronoun, Sebarang'any one,and
sebarang-barang'any one at all' are also used.
barang orang, sebarang orang, sebarang-barang orang anybody
barang, sebarang, sebarang-barang sapa whoever
barang, sebarang, sebarang -barang utai anything
barang, sebarang, sebarang-barang narut/qja' ar'y [thingl at all.
Another expressionfor 'anything' is nya'-nya' :
Enti' orang bejako' nya'-nya...' 'lf someonesaysanything...'
The vaguest possible indefinite pronoun is aza' 'somebody or other,
so-and-so,'usedwither when you don't care about a speciflc identity (the
word is often dismissive)or can't be botheredto rememberthe name.
A: Ni iya?
B: Entah aku. Iya ngirup di kedai anu'kini. 'Where is he?' ,Don't
know. Maybe he's drinking in what's-his-face'sshop.'
English usesthe word 'one' as an indefinite pronoun in such sentencesas
'One could see the flowers growing by one's house,' expressing a
49
hypothetical situation. Ibal usesthe secondpersonpronoun: Nrdn tau' meda'
bunga tumboh semakrumah orang. 'You could seeflowers growing near
people'shouses.'
Distributive adjectives
A distributiye is aword like 'each' 'every,' which indicate that something
appliesto all membersofa set. The two distributive words in Iban are riap
and genap. They mean the same thing but in differing areas one word is
more commonly used than the other Tiap and genap are placed before the
words they modify. Either word, if it appeaJsonce, means'each'.
Genap bilik bisi' TV sigi'. 'Each apartmenthas a television.'
On the other hand, tiap can be reduplicated, al]Ldrhe resulting tiapliap
gives the senseof 'each and every.'
nap-tiap orang mai sangkoh, mai terabai. 'Every man carried a spear,
carried a shield.'
Or tiap can take the prefix sa-:
Aku bisi' bulih undang setiap hari. 'I have caughtprawns every day.'
Note: All the Iban pronouns are felt to be perfectly polite. (In other
Southeast Asian languages, pronouns are not always considered so.)
You can use any of them in front of anybody.Thus a little boy might say
to the headman:Nuan ka'nganjong aku ka sungai? 'Will you take me
to the river?'
Verbs
A verb is a word that expresses action, something happening. The Iban
verb inflects, changes its form, to make clear certain grammatical
distinctions. This feature, which in Iban the verb alone shows, may make it
seem more familiar to the speaker of a westem language, since western
languages often have very elaborate verb systems. However, the
gramrnatical categorieswhich are revealed by the way the Iban verb changes
are not the same as those of western languages.
All the inflections in the Iban verb are madeby prefxes, syllables attached
to the beginning of a verb root, with one exception, that of the causative,
which is made with the szjtr (syllable added to the end of a root) -,ta lsee
belowl.
Languages change over time, and often something old will remain even
after a new way of doing it hasbeen invented. The result of this tendance
50
to preserve older forms is that in many languages there are so_called
'irregular' forms of verbs and other parts of speech. In English,
for
example, the verb 'to be'has many different formi that do not iratch the
way 'regular' verbswork: ,am,are,is, was' asopposedto ,love, love, loves,
loved.' There are in Iban a nurnber of verbs, noi many but enough to know
about, that do not conform to the regular rules. I will give eiamples of
some of_these,and explain the reasonsfor the way they l-ookthe way they
do in a digression on the all-important fe ar.re of nasoiization below.
Verb-rcots : transitive, intransitive, and requiring complement
At the core of all Iban yerbs is the root. -Ihe root word can be a verbal
concepl.or a noun.or an adjective.
verb '. gaga' 'make, do'
noun : jalai'road, way, path,
adjective : kemas'neat'
All theseturn into yerbs.
gaga' -+ ngaga"makes'
iglai -+ bejalai'goes'
Kemas ) ngemos'neatensup'; bekemas,makesoneselfneat'
Sometimesother parts of speechalso tum into verbs, as we have seen.
Roots, from whatevercategorythey originally come, may be divided into
ttuee categories,dependingon what kind of verbal idea they expressor
imply. These categories are: roots of transitiye meaning, roots of
intransitive mealing, and roots that re4uire a verb phrase to coi.rplete their
meaning, A verb-root can have both transitive and intransitive sinses,and
a root from one category can, with the proper preftxes and/or suffix, be
conyrted into a verb of anotier category.
A transitive root contains the verbal idea that someoneor something rs
doing something /o someone or something else. When such a r"oot
becomes a true verb and is used in a sentence, it must haye an object to
complete the sense.
Example: sipa& 'kick:' Aku nyipak boln nya' 'Ik:lckthe ttall.' ltakcs
an objecr: ransitivel.
Do not be fooled if you hear a sports-announcer on the radio say lya niDak
'He kicks,' for even though no object is there explicitly m.ntion"A. vou
certainly have to understandit to be rhere. By logic, you can't .kick,
w ithout kicklng somethin I.
51
 A [subject] performs-action. [intransitive]
In the opposite way, an intransitive root has a verbal idea that someone or
something is in a certain state or doing something of itseli When such a A performs-action upon B [object]. [transitive]
root appe:rIs as a verb in a sentence,it cannot take an object
In Iban, the active verb always appearsin the same form no matter who or
example: jalai 'road': Aku bejalai. 'Iwalk.' ftakes no object; what-I or you or fte or it--does the action, or if one or many people or
inhansitivel things are doing it, or when the action takes place -in the past, thi present,
or ruture.
Again, do not doubt this, even though you may hear someonesay Aftz
bejatai tiga batu 'I waked three miles,' because here the verb is really There are two ways that Iban roots turn into active verbs, either by
'folding in' on itself. You might expand this sentenceto AtL bejalai jalai c_hangingthe sound at tie beginning of the root, or by adding a prefix.
tiga batu'l w alkeda walk of three miles.' The only thing you can do with Which way you use depends on whether the verb is transitive or
a walk is watk it. So also,Atu bemimpi mimpi siti"I dreameda dream.' intxansitive.
The onty thing you can dream is a dream.43
The transitiye verb
Verb roots that take another verbal idea to comPlete their meaning are such
If you have a root that expresses an transitive idea, then to make the roor
things as modals,'helping-verbs' that give information about the
possibility, necessity,desirablity,etc. of someother verb's action, and also into a useable verb you take the root and change its beginning sound to the
related r?aJalsound. In other words, when you say n your tongue and lips
such roots as express ideas like ordering, asking, being able, desiring,
leaming, liking, wishing, etc. To make one exampleservefor all of these, are in the same place you have them when you say t, but the soind is going
through your nose, not your mouth. The process is called nasalizatioi, and
the root 4so, means 'order,' tlte verb is ngasoft.
the sound that results when the root is so changed is calle d the nasalized
Aji Bulan ngasohsida' ngaga' nya' mit agi'. 'Aji Bulan ordered them form. 45
to make it smaller' a
If the root begins with a, e, i, or u, then you add the sound ng- to the
By logic, you cannot 'order' without orderir^g somethinS, and that beginning:
somethingwill alwaysbe an action,hencein grammar,zgaso&will always
qdu'analge' ngadu'lI,yors, we, you, theyl arange'
require a verb phrase, expressing an action, to complete its meaning.
' [he/she/it] aranges/repairs.'
To becomeuseablein a sentence,the root may changeits beginning sound, empu 'self' ngempu 'takes for his own/to own'
or have a prefix put on the front, and it also may have a suffix put on the injau'bol:Iovt' nginjau'borrows'
end. Through thesechanges,the Iban verb indicateswhetherit is hansitive ubat'medicine' ngubat' gives medicine,treats,
or intransitive, whether it is active or passive(a concapt called voice), or
If the root begins with the semivowel w, that changes to u and gets the
causative, or any permitted transformation from one category to another.
Although Iban does not in itself signal person, number, tense, and mood ng- prefix:
through the shape of the verb, as westem languages do, these grammatical rrit 'paddle outward from the side of a boat' nguit
concepts do exist in Iban and are necessary to it. Iban exPressesthem by wan' teritory' ngzan'dwells/inhabits,
words outside the verb, or by word order and context.
If the root begins with k or g, then this sound changes to ng-
The active verb
kait'hook' ngait'hooks'
The verb is called 'active' when it indicatesthat somebodyor somethingis gaga' 'make' ngcga' 'rnakes'
doing something, or doing something ro somebody or something.
Schematically: If the root beginswith c, j or s, thenthat soundchangesto ny-
cabut 'plll out' nyabut 'pulls o[t'
43 The g.arrunaticalterm for this constructronis 'intemal accusative'
jaga 'gtard' tryaga'giafis
4 For the story,seeEjan,Aji B lan.

52 53
 simpan 'put away' nyimpen 'pnts away' za' 'load, burdenon back' ngema' 'caties onback'
An exceptionis the verb ngec&t'paints' from the noun cdt 'paint.' mata 'eye' ngemataka 'keep an eye on'

If the root begins with t or d, this soundchangesto n. This nge- with za ' and mata is perhaps originally a nasalized version of the
prefix ke-, working here to convert a noun into a verb. I will have more to
takut'fer[' nakut 'fr.lghterc' say about it in a section later on. Nge- is also used before a few roots that
dinga'hear' ninga 'heats' were borrowed into the language; for example, cat 'paint' becomes the verb
If the root begins with p or b, this sound changesto m. ngecat'pdnts' I bom'bomb' becomesngebom'bombs.' It seemsthat Iban
speakerswantedto avoid sayingeither *nyaf or *mam, which is what you'd
pancit'squitl' nancit'squirts' get if you simply applied the normal nasalizationrules.
belit 'coll' m?lit 'wfapsaround'
If the root beginswith n and hasno simpler form in t or d, it either doesnot
a transitiveidea,it takesthe
If the root beginswith r or l, andexpresses change or takes the prefix nge-. Very few verbs are concerned.
preflx nge-,
Some active verbs can take two objects:
l.entak'srike,bang. ngelannk ' stikes, bangs'
rujak 'cram, prod' ngerult 'cramsin, pushsin' Iya ngajar aku jako' Iban. 'He is teaching me [the] Iban language.'

If therootbeginswith m andhasno simplerform with p, andits meaning The verb without object (intransitive)
is hansitive,it takesthe prefix nge-: Several common virbs are naturally intransitive and are always used rn
their root forms:
45 A digression on nasalization. converting the firct sound of a root to a nasal is a very angkat 'rise'
ancient Aus[onesian device for indicating a word is a verb. Iban, it is clear, inherited arap 'trust, hope'
nasalization from the language that was its ancestor because, 1) we see other Austronesian dudok 'sit'
languages do the same thing, for example Balinese and Tagalog, and second, io some Iban
words the nasalization seems to have happened so long ago that the change became an
idup 'live'
integral part of the word, so that in the modem language, the word is felt as a plain root, aod ingat 'remember'
to be made into a verb has to be nasalized agarn. For examPle, Iban smPU 'possess, own' is jq.di 'to become' or 'to get married' [also nasalizes]
*p,, 'own' and that
related to Malay Zala also 'own.' This shows that the original root was kelenanq 'swim' [Sebuyauonly]
the ancestor language of ftan made that root into a verb by adding the nasal prefix en -. (If
you simply tumed *p/ into +m,l the meaning would be obscured.)
ketawa' 'laugh'
Many other Iban words show the same pattem. There arc words llr-at begin emp'' laboh 'fall'
enge-, en?k-, ens-, aod dnt-. They may b verb-roots like eaPit 'sq'reeze" en8qai 'don'r mandi' 'bathe'
w^it,' engkah'place, Er\' ensepi' 'taste,' entak'raise a post;' or they may be nouns like nunsanS 'go on, go forwards'
empitu'qudI,' enggang 'sound of hombill,' etS,(a an8 'illiP-nut tree,' etc lblievethata pansui 'go out'
close analysis would reveal something of a verbal feel lurking in each of these words. The
nasal syllables in the wofis kemudi, Lenyalang, and Sendang wehave seen in the section on
pulai 'return'
t-lge- above do convey a verbal feel of 'being at,' 'bing with,' and 'sounding;' and the nasal indu' 'like,love'
that must be in place when maling a agent noun with the prefix Pe- also gives the idea that the takut 'fear'
new noun is 'doing something.' ftrebai 'fly'
A real in-depth study oflhese layers ofnasalization belongs to historical linguistics but
tindok 'sleep'
not here. I am including this sketch of what I have observed in order to Propose a method for
peopleto recoverthe meaningsof wordswhrisemeaningshavebecomeobscureor beenlost undur 'go downstream'
altogether If we cananalyzea word and disboverits root, andfind parallelsin otherrelated
languages,we may be able to reconstructthe meaning. lt is interestingthat nasalization Nothing, however,preventstheseroots ftom taking prefixes when theu
seemsalwaF to signalsomekind of verbalconcept. T'l\ts, empelawa''spider' canbe seento meaningis changed. An exampleis angkat: berangkat'set out,'
mean'the runner' Engkabangm y invery ancienttimesdescribedsomeattributeofthe tree' nganknt-kq'raise,lift up.'
andempeliau'gibbon' mayhaverefenedto somethinggibbonsdo.

54 55
i
Note: the verb rinda'is usedby itselfif the thing that one likes is an action: QJA| : DeMJAT

Iya rindu' beginti' 'He likes fishing' R. But if it is a personthat is loved insur'move' : belinslr 'slip, changes'
then the verb is followed by the prepositior ka 'for: Iya rindu' ka aku 'He Very often the Iban expresswith an intransitiveverb a conceptthat English
likes me.' Arcp is always used with lc after it. The reason is thatboth ar..p speakerswould expresswith atransitive verb. For example,when you want
and rindu' denote statesof rnind; the /tc is a preposition [see section below] to say that someone wears things:
that indicates on whom or what this state is directed.
kasut'shoe' Iya bekasut'he wears shoes'
Aku arap ka iya. 'I fust in him.' baju'shirt' Iya enda'bebajl'he is not wearing a shirt.'
Kami arap ka anak kami ka' datai. 'We hope our son will come.'
Sidq' indu ko orang nya'. 'They like that person.' Or be- caries the senseof 'having' something,or of having come into a
certain stateby an action:
The prefix beJme-
bqtu'stone' Jalai nya'bebatu. 'That road is rocky.'
Most roots of intransitive meaning form themselvesinto verbs by taking bini'wlfe' Iya udah bebini 'He has already be-wife' [i.e 'is
on the prefix be- or me-. Me- is the rarer prefix of the two and used only married'l
before roots that begin in I or r, also occasionally, as a mere m-, before /ati'husband' Iya udah belaki'Shehas already be-husbanded' [again
intransitive roots that begin in engk-. This ma- is confusing in verbs 'is manied'l
because there are two separateprefixes that look exactly the same. Here Anak kami bedau berzrut 'Our boy is not yet circumcised.'
we will talk about only the me- used with intransitive yerbs. Be- is the
commoner prefix and is used before every otler sound. Used in this sense the verb with b- can be translated by a past passive
participle in English.
jalai 'rcad, path' bejalai 'walks'
letup'pop' meletup 'explodes' tikai bembansiti' bebunqairatah 'a beautifullly pattemed['having-
rinsa''pain, suffering' merinsa" suffes' flowers'l reed mat.'
engkanjong 'jump' mengkanjong'pop off' 46 Or be- can mean 'actins as':
jadi'berome' bejadi'officialelatafunctionl.'
kuli'coolie' Aku bekuli ba parit. 'l am laboring on the
Before roots that begin with vowels and take be-, the -e- paxtof the prefix ditch.'
often drops out, and leavesjust b-. tukang 'craftsman' Apai Gani betukang besi. 'Father-of-Gam
aum 'meeti\g' baum 'hold. a meeting, discuss' follows the profession of blacksmith.'

Sometimes before vowels the prefix be- takes the form of ber-
api 'fire' berapi'cooks' [as in 'she is cooking' in the sense of' she
is in thekitchen'l;also'fiery.'
engkah 'place, put' berengkah'unburdens also 'starts,
Degrns
anak 'child' : beranat '[she] gives birth.'
The r is inserted between the two yowels to make the verb sound
smoother. When the root ajqr'teach' (transitiye form ngajar) tums
into the verb for 'leam, study' an I is inserted.
46 Btma, Petajar lban
3 p. 63: A man wbo has kitled a gianr sings: ,4ntu cuang udah
di-pumpong, / Pala' iJa mengkanjong... 'The cuang Demon is already beheaded, / his head
hasjumped off ..'
As we have seen, be- plus a numerical classifier doubled bu reduplication
can make a verb that acts like an adverb to describe how thinss are
distributed.
Iya naca surat nya' belambor-l.ambar 'he read the leter sheetby shet.'
Be- can also be used this way with numeral, also reduplicated:
Bedun-dua sidl' nasok balai opis 'Two by two they entered the hall
of the office.'
The prefix be- can indicate that someone is doing something for himself or
herself, or that severat people are doing something together mutually. This
feature of the verb is classified in traditonal grammar as a separz.tevoice of
the verb, which is called the 'middle.'41

56 57
 Aku bebasu'. 'l am washingI myself ].'48
Unggal belagu. 'Cousinis singing.'
Anak nya' belaya'. 'The kids arequarreling.'
Kami berandau. 'We areconversing.'
Sida' RumahEntanak begawdi. 'The folks of Entanaklonghouse
are holdinga lestival.'
Often the sameroot can becomeboth a transitive verb and an intransitive
verb. If transitive, the root is nasalized,if intransitive. the root takes the
prefix be-.
Iya nenunpua' siti''She is weavingapaa' :49 lroottenun 'weave',
with objectj
Iya benongbetenun She is still weaving. [no object]
g/ga' 'seek/hunt': Aku ngiga' babi. 'l am hunting pig.' lobjecr]
Aku begiga'. 'I am hunting.' lno objectl kereja 'work':1ya
ngereja kayu"He is working timber'[object]

Tujohhari, tujoh malam, Balan begaga'ka laja sumpit.'Seven days,seven

nights, Balan worked on his blowpipe-darts.'50 [no object]
When the prefix De-is used on a root which is usually used transitively,it
gives a meaningof frequent,habitual, or continuing action, often standing
for 'to be busy at':
Diatu iya bejual bebelidi pasar 'Now he's sellingandbuying in town '
['He trades.'] Compare: Iya nyual koko. Iya meli beras-'He sells
cocoa [beans].He buys rice.'
Iya bekerejaka peraz rya. 'He is busy working on his boat.'
Orang ti' besaup ngumpul dur'l'The people who have beenhelping
collect money...'

47 Caviar for the general.

The term 'middle voice' comes from lhe gmmmar of ancientGreek
and Sanskdt. both of which have complet sts of forms for lhe middle as wll as for tne
active and passive. The middle voice still exists in modem Westem languages. French speakeN
caff it the'reflexive':Jeme laye lesmains 'I wash myself[as to] the hands_'Englisbalso has
a middle construction,althoughnow il seemsarchaicorcountrified: 'I made m great works;
I builded mehouses;I planled me vineyards' Itccleriasasr 2:41,or in Kentucky dialecl .I sure
could use me some of them grits!'
48 Although
DeDas,'canhave a middle sense,it need not be always exclusively middle. See
main text below.
49 an ikatwoven
blanket for rituals.
50 Btma, Pelajar lbon 3 p. l([.

58
 Akubebasu'pinggaimangkok'larnwxhingplates-cups
I='dishes'1.'
In someplacesDe-cangivetheverbthe senseof'startingto.'
Maia reraktawaspagi siti'kami lalu betiki. 'At daybreakthenextday
we then[beganto] climb.' )t
But all these categoriesof significance are not easily separable. In a
sentencesuchas Kcmi bumai lfrom uruti'farm'], you can easily seethat
the verb means'We have a farm,' 'We farm for ounelves,' and 'We are
farming for a while' all at once.
In rapid, casualspeechthe prefix to an intransitiveverb, especiallya verb
with an idea of motion, will get 'swallowed' and will seemto have
disappeared.
'Pai 'dah 'jalai kepbah. fApai udahbejalaikapasar)'Father
alreadywent to town.'
'Nak 'ku 'lqwa' 'ri ukoinya'. [Anakakubelawa'ari ukoinya'.]
'My child ran from thedog.'
Sometimesthe distinctionbetweenverb andadjective----ofthe kind which
in English would be called.apastpassiveparticiple-;s \nclear
angkat'ises' angkat'isen'
motahari angkat 'the sunrises' or 'the risen sun'
gugur'falls' gugur'fallen'
daungugur 'leavesarefalling' or 'fallenleaves.'
The rufe that a verb in be-/me- doesnot takean object seemsriddled with
apparentexceplidns.For example,the verb bulih is deived ftom ulih 'get'
and appearsto be intransitive, yet it always takesan object, even if the
objectis not mentioned.Its prefix D[a]-indicatesthat oneis gettingthings
for oneself,thzt is, the verb is in the middle voice.
Apai balih tiga-belasiko' undang.'Fathergot thirteenprawns.'
Likewise rycreti'understand'from reri 'meaning'can take an object:Ak
meretijako' iya'l tnderstandhis.speech.' Thisis because'understand'
is a
verb of middle voice; we do our understatdingfor ourselves. The same
reasoningappliesin belajar 'learn, sndy.'
'Irregular' verbs
The words 'irregular verb' strike terror into the heartsof peopleleaming

51etn,p. n.

59
I
Westem languages,but exceptionsfrom the strict rule system in Iban are
mild and friendly. We have seen how some intransitivi verbs appearm used as verbs in a sentence, appear as ngenjok or benjok and ngentak or
their root form without any modification. These misht be ialled bentak.
'irregular.' ln my words introducingthe sectionon verbsand in my noteon
The roots that begin in ke suchasI listed abovein the sectionon nouns tum
l nasalizationI have alreadymentionedthat thereare a numberof verbsthat
do not appearto be formed following the generalrules for nasalizationor
into verbs in a way that cannot be predicted from any rule, but must be
memorized. None of them are terribly important, so you shouldn't worry
us e of pr ef ix e s . Wh e re a s ' re g u l a r' v e rb s, w hether transi ti ve or
about them.
intransitive, either nasalize their toot or take a prefix consisting of a
consonantplus -e-, these 'irregular' verbs prefix themselveswith a teDap 'flap of wings' -+ engkebap'flaps'
beginning e- and then add a nasal. Theseverbs fall into two groups. kejap'eyeblink' -J engkjap'blinks'
kenyit'statrtled' -t [remainssame]
l) The very common verbs empa' 'eats,' empu,owns,' enggl, ,blongs
kenyut'tlrobbing' -+ . nlrt 'bounces' fcompare: kenyut-
to,'- andenggai 'doesn't want to' have their nasalizationbuil t i n, to ,p"al,
and have no.simpler forms. Empa' and empu take objecrs.- kenyut/kekryut'butncy' I
i, kecit'squit' -J engkecit 'splurls ort,'
rntransfltve.,. and enggai requiresa verbal complement. "nggi,
kebut'move,budge' --s engkebut 'bld.ges'
2) Verbs that are clearly separableinto a verb-root beginning in c, k, p,
One observation, though. With such roots that begin with ke, prefixing
or s and a prefix consisting of e-plus the appropriate nasal, rr, eng- will make the resulting verb intransitiveor middle, but nasalizing the
ng, m, or n, respctively. "ither
ke to nge makes a transitiye verb: ngejap-ka 'winks.' ngezl,ir .starles,,
cdlok 'grope' enc lok ' gropes' ngecit 'squirts at,' ngebut-ka'shoves,'kerit 'nibble' -) ngerit ,gnaws.'
kuit' w ave' engkuit' w aves'
Note: Verb-rootsthat begin with a nasal syllable take anothernasal when
pekak lonomatopcseia,of a chickenl empekak ,cackle'
they are used as real verbs: for example, e ngkah'place' becomesngengkah,
sepi' 'feeling' ensepi' ,feels,' .tastes'
etc. Seethe table of nasalizationsabove.
seput 'bteath' enseput 'breathes'
siam 'sniff' ensiara'sniffs' 53 The prefix te-
All the verbs in the second group are intransitive. If the root is used in a This prefix occurs as a strongly integratedpar154 of severalwords which
transitive senseit is nasalizedby the rul es:Asu, nguit- ka iko, iya.,The dog denote a state where something has happened suddenly.
wags his tail'; Iya nyium bunga nya,.,He sniffs the floweri.' All these
verbs,.too,can be made 'regular'by the addition ofan m to the beginning: tekenyit lfrom kenytl 'be startled' also used as an adverb .suddenly'
tekejut lfrom kejutl 'jerk'
mencdlok, mengkuit, etc.
Mimpi pan datai naka tu', Balan lqlu tedani. .The dream [had] come
I have tried to explain these forms as being holdovers from an earlier starc that far, then Balan awoke.' 55
of the language when nasalization was made asoften by using such prefixes Sabulan-bulan iya tebatok-batok. 'The whole month he coughed and
as-eng,-and em- as with nge- wtd me-. This theory may also give the reason coughed.'
why there are so many verb-roots beginning in e plui nasal, srschas enjok
handtg and-e.rrlt'stand in the ground.' Originally their roots may hive When prefixed to a few other verbs it gives a feeling of something
, _
been fbk and *rak but rhe nasalizationbecamefixed to the root (sinie Iban
prefers to have roots of two syllables). prcsently enjok and entak, when 54 This is sho*n by such words as tetop
'fixed' andtekap .srrLack,'whichhave no
correspondingrools *tap or *kap. me adverbteruboh .at first, firsf also resists being
52 ln the
understoodas able to be broken down into fe- + ubah,change, (with an r in betweento
sentenceBup tu' eiggj at! ,This book tlelongs to me,, a*a is an indirec! object. smooththe transition)ahhoughthis ought to be its etymology. In Malay the relatedprefix
53 Or 'kisses'. tsF is optionally attachableto adjectives,andputstheminto the superlativedegree:teriinggi
The traditional way a morher greets her children is to sniff thei harr.
Nowadays er,,rirm standsfor kissing wjth th lips also. 'highest.'Ibanterura, shouldmeansomethinq like'first of a seri;s.'
55 BeLna, Pelajarlban p.97.
60
6l
suddenlyhappeningand a rcsultcoming about, senseofperfectve aspect.
Tadi aku tepedq'-ka rusa'siko.' 'Just now I [suddenly] saw a deer.'
This term 'aspect' deserves a few words. Aspect refers to the way time
enters into the meaning of verbs; aspect is part of verbal nature. Some
languagesroutinely mark it. In other languages,including lban, aspectis
left for the most part to be understood from the senseof the verb. To make
the concept clearer, consider the difference between 'come' and 'ariving,'
When something 'comes,' you can seeit coming from a distance,coming
narer,and coming close.When something 'arrives,' it getsnearerand nearer,
it's a foot away from ariving, then an inch away from arriving, and an
millisecond later it has already arrived. So 'coming' is something that
happens progressively, but 'arriving' takes place in an instant, as in a race
the athletes rzn continuously, but the moment the tape is broken somebody
wins. 'Run' then shows progressiveaspect,and 'win' perfective aspect.
The Iban prefix te- fu_nctionsto convert a progressive aspect verb into one
of perfectiveaspect.56
Transiormations
The causative verb, Suffix -fta
Iban has a special suffix, -&a, which when attached to the verb, expresses
the concept that you make or cause somebody or something to do
something. The gramrnatical name for this kind of verb is the causative-51
Nearly every verb root can optionally be ftansformed into a causative verb.
Transitive verbs too can take the suffix -/rc and become causatives to
indicate that the subjectof the verb is responsiblefor initiaring the action
but not for actually carrying it out.
kirum'send': Aku udah ngirum-ka surqt ngena'pos. 'I senrrhe letter
by mail.'
sadong'sette out': nyadong-ka'pass around' ('causeto be served
ouf)
datai 'come': '...nya' alni laban aku ke ngenatai-kaadat nya' ngagai
kita...' '...therefore becauseI [am the one] who delivers this law to
y ou. . . ' 5E
ro Aspctis quite different from tense.A verb in the pasttensecan
be of progressiveaspct,
for example'walked,' anda verb in the future tensecanbe of perfectiveaspect:'will arrive.'
57 Plenty of causativesformed by slightly changingthe plain verb
exist in Bnglish, One
exampleis 'fell' 'cause!o fall'; aootheris 'rais,' from 'rise.'
58 Ejau,Dilahfanahp.lls. Adatis ao importantword. Seetheentryfor ir
in Richards.
But the most importa way -ka is used is to make intransitive roots into
transitive verbs.
ancar 'dissolved':ngancur-ka'thin out' ('causeto be dissolved')
pansut'go ottt' : mansut-ko \elezse'
sirat 'loincloth': Iya nyirat-ka annk iyd. 'He puts a loincloth on his
son.' ('causeshis son to be loinclothed')
mansang 'go on, go out': ngemansang-ka 'develop' ('cause to
progress').
By definition, every causative verb is hansitive, and so the root at the heart
of a causative, whether it is transitiye by nature or not, will appearjust like
a transitive verb with the appropriate nasalization or nasal prenx on the
front. Then it gets the -ta. In the examples just above, the.an- changes to
ngan-, the pan- to man-, the ja- to nya-, the Ji to r)i-, and man- gets ttrc
prefix nge-.
As I said in the section on the prefix be- above, there are two prefixes
rze-. One of these is parallel to De- and comes before intransitiv verbs that
begin with I or r. The second rze- comes before a small number of verbs
and is used with -/rc to make them into causatives. The common rootjalai
appearsas menyalai-f4 when it tums into a causative, to distinguish it from
nyalai-ka,whichmeans 'to cause[somemeat,fish, etc.] to be smokeddry'
lfrom salail. Likewise, the rcot jadi 'become' produces the causative
menyadi-ka 'to bring something to being.' The no.unanak 'child' can be
used as a verb-root. Its causative is merazat-&a 'to make give birth.'
Iya meranak-ka duit 'He makes his money make baby money' [i.e.
'He gets intereston his money by lending or banking it.'l
The causative nganak-ka made ftom anak in the regular fashion means 'to
call or treat someoneas a son/daughter.' In this senseit can also be heard as
menganak-ka.59
In colloquial speech you will sometimes hear a person add an extra nasal
marker, in the shape of th prefix nge-, to a causative, for example
ngenusah-ka 'troubles,' from tusah'harsh, difficult,' which would
ordinaily be nusah-ka.
-fa is often simply tacked on to the ends of verbs that don't need it in order
59 Hiatori"ul not". M"- is a pretty old prefix. It canbe seenin the ma- ofrnak4i 'eat,' whose
Prcto-Austronesianroot is *lat. Eventhoughits usein Iban is rcstricled,w- is still usedfor
both tmnsitive and intransilive verb6in languagessuchasTagalog(the Philippines),Muru!
(Sabah),andBalinese.In Sebuyaudialect,though,you canhearsuchexprcssiodsasma48i
'duriogthemoming.'
63
to make the expression mor elaborate and elegari. Ildah ngemas-ka rwnah ceIum' black' : nyelum' blacken'
iya lalu nurun ka umar| 'After neatening up the house, she then went down mirah 'red' '.ngemirah'redden'
to the garden.'
Secondby using the adjectiveto make a causative:
Cenain verbs,applied to people,cannotbe usedin the causativeform. If a !,
mother were to make her child bathe, you wouldn't say of her *Iya cilap 'cool' : nydlap-ka'cool down'
ngemnnd.i-kaanak iya,bttrather lya ngasoh anak iya mandi 'She asks [or i kering 'strong' : ngering-ka 'strengthen'
better here 'orders'l her child to bathe. However, you can say lya lantang 'contr,na, glad' : ngelanmng-ka 'gladden, make happy'
nindok-ka arnk iya. 'She puts her child to sleep.' R. mit'small' : ngemit:ka 'reduce'

Tfansitive to intransitive And third, an uncommon method, by using the prefix be- in front of the
root-
We have seenseveral instanceswhere a verb root of transitive meanins carr
be made a transitive verb by attaching the prefix be-. There arJtwo ...orang ke semina benyamai ati kin' ngerm'jafu' ti' manah..'..,a
principal reasons for making this transformation. The first is to show that personwho merly makesyou feel nice with pretty words...'@
the emphasis is on the action rather than on the object of the action: or, the root may be both prefixed with be- and followed by -ka:
Iya betenun.'She is weaving.' Iya beangat-ka kaki iya ngagai api 'He wams his feet at the fire.' R.
Balan begaga' ka laja sumpit. 'Balut worked on his btowpipe-darts.'
iya-4ikena' bejako'-ka utai bukai... '/ya-used to express [put into
The second reason is to indicate that the action has been continuins oyer a speechlother things...'6l
period of time:
This construction with De- and -ta signifies that someone is putting
Suba' kami betanam dua hari di Munggu Raman. 'We were planting something into the srale indicated by the root. I have also found this used
for two days at Raman Hill.' with verbs:
Nouns and adjectives to verbs Enda' tau'ngempok nruth perai, enda' tau' bedeka'-kaorang enggai. 'Yol
Nouns and adjectives readily convert to verbs, and we have already seen cannot mold soggy earth, you cannot make willing a person who doesn't
many examples of these kinds of transformations. To summarize all these want-'R- oz
types, the forms that a noun or adjective will be able to take depend on Active Verb to Causative Verb
whether the root can be thought of as transitive only, or intransitive only, or
possibly both. Thus from the noun gardin 'scissors'we can have Bini iya Some verbs, both transitiye and intransitive, can be made into causatives in
nguntin bok iya 'His wife cuts his hair,' and lya beguntin'He is having a order to change their meanings:
haircut,' but from Do&'hair' we can have only bebok asin lya bebok panjai a/ap 'trust, hope' : ngarap-ka'feel confidence'
'He has long hair.' Here, to make the transitive the root is nasalized, and
nenjai'lo gas' i ngenwnjai-ka 'lengthen'
the intransitive takes be-. Roots beginning in I, m, or r take the prefix mesai'bigas' : ngemesai-ka'make big'
nge-: ngelubang'make ahole' (from lubang 'hole'), ngema' 'carry onback'
ngemata ka 'keep an eye on.'
@iuia.
Verbs in De- often have the force of adjectives, for example from duri' 6l anz,p.s.
'thom' we can say Semoa'bensq wi'beduri "All typesof rotansare spiny.'
62 Suppl"."ntury not".I foundtwo nounsanda pronoun(all endingin u) whicharemade
For this reason adjectives do not convert to intransitive verbs in De-.
intoverbsby theadditionor subtraction ofa glottalstopattheedd:a&rr'I'laku' 'affirm,'asu'
However, adjectives may tum in0o transitive verbs in three ways. First of 'dog'/as, 'hunt,'t6, 'breast'/turu"suckle.' Thesethree words are very old ones,and I
all by nasalization, whether by changing the sound or adding nge-: believethat the glottal stop, as a devic for distinguishingbtweenverb and noun,may be
very ofd. There is a parallelin the relationshipbetwe2"n apo 'what?' andkapa'[= ke- + apal
besai 'bi.g' : mesai 'big as' 'why?.'

g
65
 rindu' 'llke' : ngerindu'-ka 'cavseto feel liking' 63
The prcfix Defte-
Ke- plays an importantrole in making intansitive verbsout of nounsand
adjectives.After fe- is addedto tlle headof the word to be converted,the
whole ensembleis prefixedby be-. Brt this processis, I think, best
understoodas the prefixing of a two-syllable compoi|.enlbeke-.The -ke-
component(whenit occursin therniddleof a wordit is calledan infix)gives
the resulting verbs a feeling of happeningcontinuouslyover a stretchof
time, in other words,it givesthe verbsit makesa progressiveaspect.
Iindak' v isible' bekelindz,k'slandingout, shining.'
All theseverbsfonh ed.in beke-havea poeticflavor, andrefer to things in
groups:
: Nyaubekedurabintangtiga itnnding ka sukasabangmeleban'T\ren
bright stan, aboye the far horizon, glisten as do the leavesof the
g
sac-reddracaena'.
In poetry the roots of suchverbs are occasionallyobscure. It is possible
that the.poet has great freedom in coining nep words, often using this
D"fe- consfuction, or theseverbsmay be poeticlanguagehandeddown as
wholes. We hope that further researchwill lead to more words of poetic
Iban to be recordedandexplained.
Iiut, a goodexampleof how thesepoeticverbsareformedis bekranggak,
which I fgund in Richards.It may be analysedthus:razggat means'little
dry branchesof brush piled up after clearing.' 65 l(e- convertsthe noun
into somethingwith an adjectivalfeel, znd be- makesthe whole an
intrarisitiveverb. The final meaningis 'lying aboutwith legs in different
positions(saidof manypeople)'R., obviously.aftera party.
Thepreftx beb-
Panllel to D?&e-is the prefix bete-. It is, of course,formedfrom the aspct
prefix te- further prefixedwith the intransitiveverb-prefixbe-. Thereare
not very many verbsthat take the prefix Dete-,it is relatively uncommon.
Wh^t bete- does is to take a verb of naturally progressiveaspect:rnd
convertit to a verb of perfectiveaspect.For example,gariizg 'toll,' kcbut
63 Note: the
-ta that foll owsngnrup and geind 'here is not the preposition&a 'for' but the
catrsativesuffix.
g
Masing.vol. 2. p. 4
65 A variantof the rangSarlisted in Richards.
66
'move, stir,t kinut 'twitch,' a't,d kuit 'wag' are all verb-roots that are
understood by nature to show progressive aspect:' the actions they name
happen over time. Prefixed wilh bete-, all these roots become verbs that
denote one single stroke of the action, emphasizing the state in which
something landed:
betegoring 'rolled [and lay therc]'
betekebut 'budged [and stopped]'
betekimut'trvitched[once]'
betekuit 'wagged [once and stood still].'
(fall'
Exampls of transfornations with IaDoIr
The shadesof meaning that can be given to a simple root by the use of the
prefixes and the suffix -&a are many. For example, from laboh, 'fall' we
have-
. laboh 'falls': Aku laboh ari tanju' 'I fell off the back porch.' 66
. ngelaboh'catse somethingto fall' [and so therefore'gather some-
thing fallen'l: Iya zgelaboh buqh ridn. 'He makes the durian-fruits
fall [so he can gather them].'
. ngeldboh-ka'to ca..Jiseto fall: Iyangelaboh-kakuali iya. 'She dropped
her wok.'
. belaboh'to let fall for oneself': l) Sida' belaboh main terup. 'Ttrcy
fell [began] to playing cards.' 2) Kami belaboh di nanga Sematan.
'We anchored [et fall (our anchor) for us] at the mouth of the
Sematan river.'
. telaboh'drop suddenly': Buah riqn sigi' telaboh ka kaki aku. 'A
durian fruit suddenly fell at my feet.'
. telaboh-laboh 'fall suddenly (of many things)': Leka ujan batu
telaboh-laboh qri langit 'Hailstones suddenly fell out of the sky,'
. pelaboh 'outbuilding attached to longhouse.'
. pengelaboh 'the way things fall out, destiny.'R.
The passive
In the passive voice, the verb indicates that something is done to the
'subject of the sentence:
A [subject] gets-something-done-to-it.
or,
66 The tarTz' is an open-airplatform, usually roughly floorcd, attachedto the main veranda
(ruai) of a longhouse,or behindth; kirchenat the back of a longhouseapartment(biti*) or
detachedhouse,wherepeopledo things like dry clothesandrice, cleanfish, etc.

A gets-something-done-to-it
by b lthe agent].
To makethe passiveform of the verb, you takethe root andput the prefix
di in front of it.
Akumeda'anaknya'. 'I seethechild.'
Anak nya' di-pedaaka. 'The child is seenby me.'
Notice that in the passivethe word of the agnt,the.personor thing by
which the somethingis done (what would be the subjectif tle sentence
wereactive) is not preceededby a preposition,asit is in Malay.6?
If the root beginswith a vowel,especialtyif thatvowel is e, the i of ure
di- canbe drcppedandthe d combinedwith the root.
empa' 'eat,' dernpa''eaten'
Very often the di- of the passiveis omitted.
Ngejang ka para'baka reba' anjongpasang68 'l-eavingbehindthe
firewood-rack [piled with fireWood] like driftwood brought by the
tide.' oe
Koko karni abis pakai tupai. 'Our cocoa is completelyeatenup by
squirrels.'
A passiveverb cantakethe causativesuffix -fta.
Peraunya' di-laboh-kaari pala' wong 'Tl;'eboatwaslet fall from the
headof theraoids.'/u
An agentneednot necessarilyaccompanya passiveverb. The reasonthe
passivevoice exists,in fact, is that in someslatementswe can make thc
thing that has somethingdoneto it and what is done are more important
thanwho or what is responsiblefor it. Thus,if we cometo a shopandthe
light is on but we can't get in, we tell the othersbackin the car:
Pintu nya' di-kunci 'The door is locked.'
Who locked the door and why is noneof our business;our concemis to
repoft on the door's state,aswhenwe bring a non-functioningmachineto
the mechanicandsay:
o/ However,you will occasionallyseesuchthin
Eis 'Dwya Aku (the litle of a book) olih
JanangEnsiring,' wherethe writer is beingcarefirl to^sindicatewho is the agent.
68 Masing,v. 2, p. 8
69 Nore:this describesa household,itit cornfoftablysupplied
with necessities.
?0 This relels to the practiseof the crcw getlng out and ietting
a boat slide dowtr througha
rapid while controlling its descentwilh lenglhsof rotan.
68
Injin tu' kena'rusak.'Thisenginegotbroke.'
Of course;sincetheageqtneednot be mentionedin a passivesentence'one
can use the passiveto avoid responsibilityas in the sneakyEnglish
'Mistakesweremade.'
Kulit pisangnya' di-buai ari penyenSok'The bananapeelwastossd
out from the window.'
The passivewith the single Vefix di- gives the feeling that the action
happenedin the past,the senseof the pastpassiveparticiple in English. If
the iomponent -&e-is insertedbetweenthe di- andthe root, thenthe result
indicatesthat a passiveaction is going on in the present:
Suratnya' benongdiletulis iya. 'TlE le,r'rlris presentlybeing wrimen
by him.'
Ke- can also be usedto convert an intransitive root into somethingthat
can then be funher prefixed with di- to make a passivethat otherwise
couldnot exist:
arap 'l\st' : di-karap lke + arapl 'trusted'
Iari 'ivr' : di-kclari 'fled from'
The passiveis usedin makingrelativeclauses.This is becausethe relative
pronoun,ti', cannotbe usedasthe objectof a verb or of a preposition.
Natnautai ti' di-asohnuanbeli ari pasar? What is it you wantbought
from the market?
Orang ti'di:peda aku kcmari'.'The personwho was seenbyme
yesterday,'= 'The personI sawyesterday.'
Sida'ngambisemoa'utaidi-ledeka' diri. 'Theytookeverythingwanted
by themselves'= 'They took whateverthey wanted.'
Another common way of making a passive sentence,more
daily-speech-likethan using di-, is to use the helping-vetbkena' 'to get'
with theroot-formof themainidea.
Beras kini sbis kena' besah. 'Our rice has gottencompletelywet.'
Barangiya ketw' cari. 'His thingsgot stolen.'R.
The markof a passivesentenceis tlat whatwould be the objectin anactive
sentencebecomesthe subjett. Thereis a further type of passivesentence'
in which tbeindirect object of an rctive sentencebecomesthe subject.
Taukdmayar aku kenari'. 'The bosspaid me yesterday.'[active]
69
 becomes-
Aku di-bayar tauki kemari' '1 was paid,by the boss yesterday.,
Jungar nyau takut enggai-ka sida' enda' di-beri Kunsil surat terang.
'Jungarbecamefrightenedlest they had nor been siven the letter of
explanationby the Councillor'71
The'sofi'pasive
Iban, besidesthe active and passivevoices,also has somethingin between
the two. For lack of a better word in English I am terming it the .soft'
passive. In this voice, what would be the object in an active sentenceshifts
to the beginning of the sentence.The verb standsin its root form. withour
nasalization, and also without the preflx dl-. The noun or pronoun of the
personor thing that does the action, what in an active sentencewould be
the object or in a passivesentencethe agent,here comes , efore tl.teverb,
so that it still looks like the subject of the verb.
Jagong tu' kami tanam.
English has no exact grammatical equivalent,but some of the effect can
LI be illustratedin the translation'This com, we planted.' Comparethe active
version of this sentence,Kqmi nanamjagong rz',We planied this com',
and the fully passive version Jagong tu' di-nnam kami .This com was
planted by us.' The function ofthe 'soft'passive is to throw emphasison
the goal of the action, at the same time de-emphasizingthe action itself.
However, the actor, or doer of the action, remains mentioned with more
emphasisthan in a full passive,though with lessthan in an active sentence.
Note that a 'soft' passivesntencemrrJtcontain the noun or oronoun thar
representsthe actor. If the actor is omitted, then a .soft' passive will
becomeindistinguishable from a full passive.
Tense
?'enseis the grammarian's term for that feature of the verb that makes clear
at what time the action of the verb is happening, whether in tbe past, the
present, or the future. English verbs change form in order to indicate tense.
For example,compare 'I see' with 'I saw.'
Iban verbs do not change their forms to indicate tense; the verb alwavs
looks the same.Much of the time Iban speakersunderstand the tense of tire
verb from context. If necessary,you make the time of the action clear by
adding additional words to the sentence.
7 I Ejaq Dilah Tanoh, p.
96.
70
Some of these are adverbs of time, for example-
udah'abeady'
suba' 'forr:.terly'
menya' 'forln.erly, in th past, once'
dulu' 'before' 'first'
t4di'recently, just now'
barz 'hasjust' (also 'again')
benong 'presently' 'in the middle of'
mzngkang'strll'
agi'/lagi''still' (also,'again,'or'later')
enda' lamn agi' 'soon' ,
du.di' later'' afterwards'
i/a "later' (in a number of dialects 'tomonow')
Dulu' and duli are l.:sedin a pair. Nuan mandi dulu' , aku dadi. 'yolu take a
bath first, I later.' If one word of the pair is there and the other not, the
omitted idea is understood.
Iban is careful to make it clear if an action has nol yet happened, using th
negative words of tense bedau, apin, or empai. I wilt talk about these
important words in the section on negatives below.
In addition to these general adverbs, there arc also many adverbs and
adverbial phrases that express time quite precisely. You can see an
impressive example of this in Richards' article on the word Dari. Iban
hasnot only words for 'tomorrow' (pqgila') and'yesteday' (kqm.eri'),btJt
words for 'day after tommorrow' (lrrra'), 'day beforeyesterday'(ensanus).
In the older language there exist equally compact words for 'third and
founh-, fifth-, sixth day from now.' Taken all together, these words and
phrases make up a large palette of shadesof meaning with which to
designate time, shades from Iban speakers can choose almost anything
from the very general to the very precise. Table number 2 in the appendix
gives words for the various times of day.
Tense can also be indicated by the ar,,xiliaries, or helping-verbs bisi' 'has'
anddeka' 'will/want to.'
Present tense
Obviously, the present tense indicates things are happening rolv. For the
present tense, as for all other tenses, Iban has no special form of the verb.
Naruq utai di-gaga' nuan? 'What thing is being made by you?'
B: Aku ngaga' langkarr.riri'. 'I am making a shed.'
1l
 Colloquial Iban doesnot make any explicit distinction betweensimple and
,"] prcgressive present,which is so important in English. Nuan bejalai ka
kebun is both the progressive 'You are walking to the garden' and the
simple 'You walk to the garden.'(This would look clearerin older English:
'Thou walkest to the garden.') If you needto say you are in the middle of
something,you can add benong.
Pede-mdh enti' bisi' orang nemuai. Aku benongnyumai asi'. 'See
is ther'ssomeonevisiting. I'm in the middle ofcooking rice.'
However, we have seentwo ways in which the verb changesto show that
an action hasbeenor is continuing for a while. If a personbuys rice on one
occasion,I1a meli beras 'He buys rice.' If he habitually buys rice, then
Iya bebeli ka beras 'He trades in rice.' We have also seen how in tne
passive, a component -ke- insened between the prefix di- and the root
indicatesthat the action is continuing.
Iya enda'meda' utai ti'dikelari. 'He didn't know what was beins fled
from.'
Another way in which Iban gives a progressivesenseto a verb is parallelto
suchexpressionswith adjectivessuchas clap-sac4lap'colder and colder.'
The verb is reduplicated, and the secondmember ofthe compound is prefixed
with sa- or me-:
ambi"take' : ngambi'-sangambi'I ambi' -mengambi''keep on taking'
palu''hit' : malu'-samalu'lmalu'-memalu''keepon hitting.'
Sirnple past
The simple past is best understood as the tense in which we tell stories;
Iya angkat, masok baju iya, ngambi' ginti', lalu nurun ka ai'. 'He got up,
put his clothes on, grabbedhis fishing-rod, and went down to the stream.'
Again, the conceptof simple pastexists in Iban, but like all other tensesis
not explicidy marked in the form of the verb. Any Iban verb can be made
past simply by attachinga word that specifiesa past time.
A: Kemnia nuan pulai ai Kuching? 'When [did] you come back
from Kuching?'
B: Aku datai kgnlqri'ngena' ekspres.'I [came] come back yesterday
using the express.'
Or, very often the senseofpast action is understood from context. A story
may begin Pagi siti"one morning... ' 72 This setsthe location in the past,
72 Note: the expression
hali riri'is an idiom that means 'nd.rl day.'
72
and from there on the storyteller goes on using verbs in their ordinary forms,
confidentthathis hearersunderstandthem all asbelonging to the context of
a past time.
Nyadi pagi siti', die' Encelegit,bini Apai Aloi' qngkat berapi pagi.
Leboh esi' udah mansau,dia'iya lalu berengkahmelo tubu ka kuk
paginya', Ildah tembu' mela tubu' nya' dia' iyanemu garqm sida'
udah abis.
'So, one moming, Enchelegit,the wife of Father-of-Aloi, got up to
cook breakfast. When the rice was ready, she began to Prepare
bamboo-shoots to eat with it. She had already finished preparing the
/r
bamboo-shootsand then she noticed they were out of salt.'
Or, someonemay begin a story more specifically witb Musin kalia'.-., a
phrasethat with appropriatematerial is equivalentto 'Once upon a time-'
Future, the verb defta'
Iban speakerscommonly do not bother to mark the future tense too, if there
is enough context from which to understand a futule sense. The same thing
happensin English.
Kini kita'? 'Where [will] You go?
Kami bejalai ka Betotrg.'We [will] go to Betong.'
Often, though, they spcify the time at which something will happen.
Indai manggangikan lemai tu'. 'Mother grills [will gril| fish this
evening.'
An important word for expressing future action is the verb deka'. Thts
means 'to will,' 'to want/desire.' Sftictly speaking,deka' is a verb that
needs a verbal complement to make a comPlete sentence. However, the
complementcan be left out, and so delc'can seemto take an object.
Aku deka' duq sudu'grla. 'I want two spoonsof sugar.'
And, like the ve$ 'to will' in English, is used as a helping verb to make the
future:
lya deka' ngiga' paku di babas-'Shewill look for ferns in thejungle.'
The short form of defa ' is &a', which you will hear more often than the long
form.
73 'IndniAloi Abi" G-um/Mother-of-AloiRunsout of sak" in sather1984,p. l. I have
providedmy own tmnslationherin Placeof Prof. sather'sin order to makethe Iban
smmmarcleafet
 Deka'-cut also-
19an 'to go.' Aku deka' ka tuan raja is a pretty exaca
translation_of_Shakespeare's 'I will to the king.' This uiage is
understandablebecausewe 'want' to get someplace.The shortform 7<a'is
commonin gleetings:
Kini ka' nuan? 'Whereareyou going?'
Perfect
The perfect tenseexpressesa past action that has a presentresult;
petectum, in Latin, meansamong other things .finiihed,' ,over,'
'complete.'In distinctionto the simpletreatmentof the simplepast,Ibanls
cffeful_aboutmaking the perfect tenseexplicit. The commonestway of
doing this is to addfte adverbudah ,abeady.'
Aku udah betemuenggauiye..,l lhave) abeadymeet [met] with him.
fimplication: Andwhateverbusinesswe hadis now complete.]'
Suba',d.ulu'andtadialsogivetheverbaperfectivesense..fhe wordbadu,
'finished' functionsasa son of helping-verb:
Sida' badu' nafui, lalu gali'. 'T\ey finishedeating,thenlay down.'
The verb bisi' 'has,' whenusedasa helping-verb,givesan emphaticsense
of completionandassertion:
Akubisi' nebasrumputnya' ambis..I[in fact]ftavecompletelymown
thegrass.'
Past pmgrcssive,the .imperfect' tens
When an action takesplacein the past,and doesn'tsimply happenat one
point and then is ovet but continuesfor while, we call the iense thar
expresses this thep4stprogressiveor impe4fectlban doesnot botherabout
the_imperfctmrrch,yet we haveseens]uchfomts asbekelinda&.shining,
and di-kcloi 'fled from' (with the infix -fe-) that clearly indicate that
somethinghasbeengoing on for a while.
Certainadverbsor phrasesgive a weak senseof the imperfect. Dulu, and
saba'oftencarrytheideathattheactionhasbeenspreidout overa period
of time whenthey appearwith a verb of naturallyprogressiveaspeci.
Dulu' karuidiaudi semenanjung- 'First[.beforethis'] we live [were
livingl in the Peninsula
lwest Malaysia].' "Ka kini nuan?"
Of courseyou can alwaysspecifyhow long a pastaction went on: "Ka kin, ngagaimenyadiaku di Setunggang."
Aku ngajar lepantaundi aniversiti..I teach[wasteaching]eightyears
at the university.'
74
But since diau and ngajar in the examplesabove can equally well be
translated'lived' and 'taught' respectively,it's really a closecall whether
the imperfectexists in Iban grammaras a separatecategory. To amplify
what I saidin the inroductory sectionon tense,westemlanguageslike to
concentratethe senseof time and the relations betweentimes of action
inside the verb, while Iban rnakesthem clear in waysthat happenoutside
the verb. In English someonemight wiite-'He enteredthe forest. A bird
was singing.' When you entersomethingit is an eventthat takesplace in
an instant and then is over, thus the writer choosesthe simple past; but
singinggoeson for a while, hencetheimperfect. But in Ibanit would come
out: Iya masokkannpong.Burung siko' bemurryi'dia'. Here Iban lets the
distinctipnbetweeninstantandcontinuingactionbe takenfor ganted.
Relationship of temes in context
As we have seen,the time of a verb dependsto a very great extent on
context. Contextcanbe the situationin which you, asa speaker,will find
yourself togetherwith other speakers,or it can be provided by clues and
cuesin the surroundinglanguage.The elaboratesystemof supplementary
tensesand moodssuch as we have in English derivesfrom the desireto
build redundancyinto the language.T4 For example,there is really no
needfor a markedpwetfect terce, a tensethat indicatesthat something
happenedbefore somethingelsehappened.If the contextin Iban is past,
then perfectverbswill all be understoodto expressa pluperfectsense.
Sidn' udahn4ka| lnlu orang siko' datar\ 'They [had] alreadyeaten,thena
personarrived.'
Further examples:
Prcsent:Aka neda' nyo'- 'l seeit.'
Aku udahmeda'nya'. 'I [have]alreadysee[n]it.'
Suba'qku besekuladi sekulaMission. 'Formerly I went{o-schoolat
theMissionschool.'
Akudulu' meda'nya'. 'I sawit first.' [='I sawit once'spokento others
who haven'tyet seenit.l
Dulu' radai bisi' tali karan di kanpong kami. "fherc didn't usedto be
a elecric cablein our village.'
Asu' ksmi Belang beranakbaru tadi. 'Ow dogPatchgavebirth just
now.'
74 Reilundancyis wherethereare two or more waysof doing the samething. Redundancy
hasoftenbeenthoughtof in the senseof 'uselessextras,' but consider:controlsin anairplane
are backed-upthretimes or evenrnore. Ifone systemfails, the other safely flies the plane.
Languageusesreduodaocyto makesurethe messagegetsacross.

75
 Aku benongmeda'nya'. 'I amin themiddleof seeingit.'
Kain nunn mengkangdi-jimboi, Ialu agi' basah.'Your clothesare
still drying,andstill wet.'
Akudzka'mcda'nya'. Iwillseeit.
Nwn bejalai dalu', aku dudi. 'Yor: go first, I lwill gol later'
If you're talking abofi anttquiay,kclia' (alsoagi' kelia' 'it wasstill the old
days') hasthe somethingof the feel of'once upona time.'
Agi' kElia' katni lban besirat aja'. 'In the old dayswe Ibanswore
just a loincloth.'
Risi't i* useas an autiliar! and as existential,
The verb Bisi'derives from the noun iri' 'what's inside something,
contents.' Thus isi' rumah means'the occupantsof a house.' R. Starting
from this concepl Disi' itself hascometo be a specializedverb of middle
voice /) whosemostbasicmeaningis 'to havefor oneself'orsimply 'to
have.'
Aku bisi'duit duapulohsen.'l havetwentycents.'
By extension,,iri' can alsomeans'to gef or 'to be ableto'-
Kati nuonbisi' nBli ikan di pasar tadi? 'Did you get to buy fish in the
marketjust now?'
or, asI havesaid,it actslike the English 'has'in giving a verb the senseof
perfecttense:
Indai Stepanibisi' dat4i. 'Stephanie'smotherhasarrived.'
BecauseIban has no true verb 'to be,' ,iri' takesover some of its
functions.Brsi'oftenmeans'thereiyare.'
Bisi' jamban di belakangbilik 'Tl]F;reisa toilet at therearof theroom
[apartmentin a longhouse].'
. Bisi'seput,bisi' arap.'Therc'sbreath,there'shope.'76
Br.si'willoftenappearin whatlook like simplea = b sentences:
Buahsemangkatu' bisi' mansau.'This watermelonis ripe.'
However,the sentencemeansmore than a mere assertionthat a fruit rs
readyto eat. Becausebisi' is a middle verb which implies somebenefitfor
75 sea note47
76 the Brookes' motto, Drm rpiro rpem, 'As long asI breathe,I hope.'
76
the peoplein its, let us say,immediatevicinity, the accurateway to
understandthis exampleis '[We] have this ripe watermelon.'This is
probably how ,i,ri' came to perform the role of the existential 'to be.'
Perhapsoriginally people thought of sentenceslike as Brsi' bukit, bisi'
langit as '[We, generally consideredas membersof the entire human
adventureon eafth,l havehills, have [the] sky.'But then the grammatical
subject,unexpressed and vagueasit is already,fadedfurther to becomea
'dummy' subjectsuchasoneseesin Englishsentenceslike 'Ifs raining' or
inFrcr.ch Il y a du monde'Thereare people.'
More commonlypeoplewill szy Mansausemangkara', cutting out both
the bisi' 'is/ have' xd buah 'fruit.' You have to imagine you are at the
market with your Iban friend, who is pointing-his languagemakesthat
clearbecausehedeterminesthenounwith tu'-to a watermelonanddoesn't
needto specify 'fruit.'
Nyau and Jadi/Nydi 'to become'l'is become'
The two Iban words with the meaning of 'become' differ in that ryau
denotesa becomingin process,and nladi that somethinghas arrived in a
su e.
Buah nanasu' nyauka mansau.'This pineappleis becomingripe.'
Nya.diis the nasalizedform ofTbdi.
Tembu'besekuln,iya nyadipolis. 'He finishedschool,and becarnea
policeman.'
It canalsomean'to happenin a successfulway,tum out well':. kcrejanya'
na.dainyadi'. 'Thatjob didn't happen.' Nyadi alsoworks asa conjunction
meaning'then,' ratherin thesameway astheBible phrase'it cameto pass...'
althoughmuchmoreday-to-dayin feel.
In ordinary speechzyaa (also lenyau) means'lose' 'lost.' Ny4u seemsto
keepthis feeling of waningin severalcommonphrasesconcemedwith the
passageof time, asif time wereflowing from a higherto a lower level:
hari nyau lemai'T"beday beganto becomeevening.'
ai' nyausurut'the tideis etbing'
nyauka lana' 'after sometime'
OtherAuxiliaries
In Iban,just asin English, thereare helping-verbsother than 'is' that one
addsbeforethemainverbin orderto changethemeaning.Theseareknown
as modals. In grammar,maod referc to sensesof possibility, necessity,
77
 degreeofreality or unreality,desireableness,
etc. associatedwith the verb. a main verb followed by a parallel verb-phrase:
Akamu' mcda'nya'. 'I canseeit.' Iya nemungaga'percu. 'He knows [how to] makeboars.'
Aku enda' tau enda' medanya'. 'I cannotnot [='must'l seeit.' Iya ngasohaku ngaga'perau siti'. 'IIsasks me to makea boat.'
Akt patut medanya'. 'I oughtto seeit.' Iya ngajar aka ngaga'perau. 'He tcachesme [to] makeboats.'
Aku ulih meda'nya'. 'I gevgotto seeit.' . Iya mintaorang nunjokjphi Baukn ia. 'He askssomebody[to] point
. &c. out.theBauroadto him.'
Mlsti 'must' is alsoused,bonowedfrom Malay. Iya rtnd ' manggang r'&an.'Heloves [to] grill fish.'
Iya benri' meda' orang ngasohasu' mzrinsa'. 'He hatesto seesome
Aku nisti betemuengga&iya. 'I mustmeetwith him.' onemakea dog suffer.'
Threeotherimportantmodalauxiliarieswill be discussedin the sectionon Aku nguji bejab' Iban. 'I try to speakIban:'
negatingwordsandsentences below. Thesearerudai .is not,' enggai, don't Kitai berengkah nanam padi. 'We begin to plant rice.'
want,'andanarrg'do not!', Aku asai dcka' tindot 'I feel I I ] want to sleep.'

Thereare two featuresto note in the aboveexamples.First, the verb that
follows the modal is in the sameform as it would be usedby itself in a
sentence.
Iya medn'aku.'He seesme.'
Iyatou' meda'ak*'He canseeme.'
Second,Ibandoesnot allow an adverb,or anyotherpartof speech,to come
betweenthe modalverb andthe verb that follows it. you cannotsav +hd
tau'lama med.a'aku.This leadsme to believethat the rwo verbi her.
shouldbe anafyzed,at the mostbasicgramniaticallevel, as parallel. Itis
asif we can breakup the sentences
into two, like this:
The mainverbcanbe passive.
Aku di-asohorang meli kain lebohmaiaaku di Kuching.'I wasasked
by somebody[to] buy cloth whenI wasin Kuching.'
When the subjectof the secondverb is the sameas that of the first verb,
nothingcomesbetweenverbsoneandtwo. The subjectof the secondverb
mustbe mentionedwhenit is different than the subjectof the first verb.
The parallelnatureof the two verbsexplainswhy an intransitiveverb, such
asbeLajor,cans@mto take an object:
Iya belajar ngaga'perau.

Ak tau'.Akumeda'nya'. 'I amcapable.Iseeit.'
Aku patut. Akl medanyq'. 'I am designated.77 I seeit.'
Aka ulih.Aku,meda'nya'. 'I got.I seeit.'
But then the seondverb comes to work in a relationshio to the firsr
somewhatas in which we haveseennounsfollowedbv othernounsto
work. For example,nanah.manokmeans'house[for] chickens.' Iaa,
macarrl,ans'be capable[to] read.' In both examplesthe secondelement
makesrnorespecificthe generalidea statedin the first.
Verbplus verb
After verbs of asking, ordering, learning, teaching, knowing,
remembering, feeling,liking, hating,trying; beginning,ceasingetc.,in short,
in every constructionwherea main verb requiresanotherverb--a verbal
complement-to completethe meaning,Iban usestwo verbsin parallel,or
InEnglish, ngaga'peraa 'to makeboats' would be analyzedasthe object
of belajar 'leam.' We could avoid this type of translationin English by
rrsingthepariiciple:78 'He leams,making boats.' .However,thereis no
participle in Iban, for the reason that there is no agreement.A more
faithful representationusing English of the underlying Iban gramrnar
wouldbe: 'He leams[he]makesboats.'
Verb plus verb to dscribe manner
In sentenceswhereit is not necessarythat one verb be addedto the main
verb to complele the meaning,two verbs can still be put together The
secondverb, again,describeshow the action of the first takesplace and
makesthemeaningmorespecific.
Katni niki nitih-ka jalai ti' latrut'. 'We climbedfollow[ing] the old
Dath.'

77,SeeRichardson the word patal 7E So called becauseit 'participates'in the naturesof both the verb andthe adjective.

78 79

An objectcan comebetweenthe two verbs,
Aku ka' nganjongSanuelpulai ka rumah.'I amgoing to takeSamuel
home.'[='sggertSamuelretum']
As we haveseenin the sectionaboveon adverbs,oneverb canbe followed
by anotheryerb which will modify the fimt verb in an almost adyerbial
way:
Bungan lalu beguai-guai belanda ngagai Balan.79 'Btngan then
hastilyran towardsBalan.'
Paip nya' di-jual bebatang-bateng.'The pipesaresold by thepiece.'
Yerb plus verb to expnesspurpose
The verb plus verb constructioncan also, like English, expresspurpose,
especiallyafter main verbsof rnotion:
Kaminurunnginti'. 'We'regoingdown [to] fish.'
Kita' mestlpulai tindok ditu'. 'You mustcomeback [to] sleephere '
Iya makaingi.tlupseputajo'. 'He eatsmerelyto keephis breathalive.'
[='keep body andsoul together.'NB:The phrasingof this sentenieis
verycasual.l
Verb plus verb as the origin of Iban prcpositions
Prepositionsare words that makeclear the relationshipof the word they
preceedto othersin the sentence.Many Iban words that function as
prepositionsare,in fact, ve6s usedin parallelwith a main verb.
Iya bejalai ngagai kampong.'He gcflsto the forest.'
ln fact,ngagaiis in form a verb,derivedfrom gagai 'pursue,approach.'R.
Gagai iya! 'Chasehim!'And so this sentence could be translated:'He
goes,approachingthe forest.'
Apart from ngagai many other Iban prepositionsoriginatedfrom verbs
placedin parallel andretain a strongportion of their verbal identity. The
following list illustratesa few.
ngeza''with,using' [fromtena''get or use']
Iya nebangkayu' ngena'kapak '}Je fells tl:eeswith an axe.' 80
19 Brm+ Petajar lban 3 p,97
,
80 To translatethis exampl 'He fells a tree using an axe'shows how English, with
the
pafliciple, caoget closeto Iban grammar.
80
ngenrng 'zbout, conceming' [from &enang 'call to mind, mention']
Aki nusoi cerito ngennng utai lama'. 'C'nndfxher tells stories about
old things.'
,runyi 'like, as, as if' [from bzzyi 'sound']
Anang bejakt'munyi zya'l 'Don't talk like that!'
ngeliling'around' Ifrom kelilins'surround'l
Bulan bejalai ngeliling dzzya 'The moon moves amund the earth.'
nyentok '!p to, rs far as' [fron senlot 'touch']
Kami mudik ari Stunggang nyentok Nanga Batang Kayan, Ialu pulai.
'We went dowffiyer ftom Stunggang as far as the mouth of the Kayan
River, then retumed.'
Some conjunctions, words that connect or set off words and phrases, also
began their lives as verbs. Certain of these retain a strong verbal flavor:
nyadi 'then, so' [fromjadi 'become, happen']
Nyadi krnai han iya dnai ka tebing sungai ,erai srt '. 'Then, at evening
he came to the bank of a large river.'
enggaikn 'lest' lenggai 'don't want'l
Iya nyaga ufiuti enggai-ka di-rusak jelu.'He watches his farm lest
[fearing that] it be destroyed by animals.' R.
ngambi'-ka'in ordet that' ffrom ambi' 'take, get'l
Kami empu miki' injin nya'ngambi'-ka bejimat duh. 'We repairedthe
engine ourselvesin order to fto get to ] savemoney.'
Others have mostly lost their verbal feel.
tauka'or' ffrom tau' 'can'l
Iya bisi' di kbun muka iya nurun nginti'. 'She's in the garden or fcan
bel she'sgone fishing.'
Inban 'beraru'se'lfrom laban 'to resist, oppose'l
Aku pulni twnu laban hai lu' ujan. 'I retumed early because it was
going to rain.'
The verb which exploins an adjctive
The verb can also be used to clarify in what sensean adjective is meant, or
8l
what it refe6 to.
Aku lembau bejalai kin-kitu' di pasar 'I'm tired/reluctant to walk ['of
walking'l here and there in the town.' 8l
Asi' nyanai di-pakai enggau tempuya*. 'Rice is tasty to eat with
durian-relish.'
bul oh bauh ngelanggai baym' the tall bunboos equipped-with-pointy-
leaves [as of tail-feathers ofl parakeets.'
Injin tu' mar di-pasang. 'This engine is hard to start.'
The verb as noun
We often have the need of using a verbal concept in the role of a noun. In
English a common way of using verbs as nouns is to use them in their
infinitive form,82 which is the verb introduced by 'to.' Iban has no
special infinitive form of the verb. Since the Iban verb by itself does not
specify who is doing the action, the appropriate form, actiye, passive,
tmnsitive or intransitive, can stand as a verbal noun.
Tusah ngajar d.i universiti. 'To l'sach at the university is had.'
Tusah belajar di univeruiD,. 'To study at the University is hard.'
Badas ngelantang-ka ati diri'. 'lt's fine to enjoy yourself.' (='mal(e
your own heafi happy.')
Nyamai dikerindu' orarg. 'lt's nice to be loved by somebody.'
The mood of verbs
Mood, 1n gammar, as I have said, means the ideas of actuality, possibility,
necessity, desirability, or hypothetical nature associated with a verb. You
might say that mood is the mood of the verb, how you feel about the action,
as opposed to what the action is. Iban indicates mood, first of all, by modals
siJchas tau', dekn', p4tzt, etc., and secondlyby context. Aku deka'makai
aJi'can mean either 'I want to eat rice,' or 'I would eat rice' depending
upon tlte circumstances in which it is said. In English and other European
languages the different moods figure most importantly in conditions,
sentencesof the form 'if...then...' We shall seehow Iban heats these later.
8l Pasar literally means'market,' but by extensionit hasthe commonmeaningof'towo' or
'ciry.'
82 'Infinitive' meanssimply 'undefined,'that is, the verbalnotion hasno personot number
specifically connectedwith it; theinfinitivesignifiesactionin general.
82
Negatives
Making a positive sentenceinto a negativeone is a bit more complicatedin
Iban than in English. Iban has a selectionof words where English usesa
simple, single all-purpose 'not.' The two plainest negatives in Iban are
enda' 'not' and nqdai'have not,' the negative equivalent of bisi'. U/<a/
denotes the rejection of the word or phrase it is attached to. Enggoi means
'don't want.' Negatives commandsare infioduced by drlzt?g 'do not.' LasUy,
Iban makes a distinction between lhings that did not happen and things that
have not yet happened,using suchwords asbedau arLdapin'not yet.' Iban
negatives precede the word they modify.
Enda'
It is here that Iban has the closest thing to English 'not.' The word of
negation is enla'.
Aku enda'meda'nya'. 'InotseeiC ['seeitnot'].'
Aku enda'deka'meda'nya'.'I not will ['will not'] seeit.'
Enda' is used with the simple past and the perfect when it states that
something simply didn't happen.
Niang indai kami endn' nemu maca tauka nalis. 'Our late mother did
not know [howl to read or write.' 83
Aku.enda' bulih umi. 'I did not get [a] thing.'
One Iban idiom with enda' puzzling at first. In a sentence such as 'I told
him not to do it' with the verb ngasoh 'ask, order,' the negative comes
before ngasoh'.
Aku enda' ngasoh iya ngaga' nya'. 'He askedme not to make that.'
Nadai
Nadai is the negative form ofDisi' and shows the same range of meanings
that its positive brother has. Thus, nzdai can mean 'is not'-
. Kayu' tu' nadai manah. 'This wood is not good.'
or 'does not have,'-
Kitai nadai gala kena'ngaga"kuih. 'We don't have sugar to make a
cake.'
83 Notice herehow the tenseof the verb is indicatedby the adje.tive niang 'lale' modirying
'mother.'
83
or, with another verb following, 'does not,'more emphatic than using
sirnple enda'-
Injin sepit tu' nadai bejalai. "Ihis outboard does not run.'
Akt nadai nemu daun sup di pasar tadi. 'I did not find coriander in the
marketjust now.'
As you can see from the last example, naddi often acts like a synonym for
enda' , in othet words, as a plain 'not.' However, it is slronger than end.a'-
Aku nadai meda' nya'. 'I don't seeit.'
Sirce nadai, like Disi', often caries a sense of completed action (creates
th perfect tense), this example is better translated 'I have not seen it.'
Nadai and enda' can freely change places, although one should keep the
perfecdvenuanceof nadai in nind.
Kayu tu' nadai manah, - Kayu tu' enda' marurh.
Akunadai meda' nya' - Aku enda' meda' nya'.
Akai
The word ukai ilrdicates a rejection of the word or phrase in favor of
something else, often the opposite, which may then be expressedbut mostly
is simply left understood. In using llkai the speakerrhetorically assumesor
hypothesizes that his hearer has an opinion that the speaker then
contradicts; the sense &kai conveys is 'not what you think, but something
else.' The best way to understand how akcl is used is to compare it with
nadai.
A: Kati bisi' tepung gandum di-jual ditu'? 'Is there any wheat flour
sold here?'
B: Na.dai. 'Isn't.' (ot as Malaysiansoften say in English, 'Don't
have.')
C: Ked.ai tu' nyual tepung gandun? 'This shop sells flour?'
D: Ukai!
In the first exchange above, A asks a grocer whether he's got any flour and
finds they are out of it. In the seiond example, C has wandered into a
hardware shop, and D's ztci says, in brief, 'We're not a grocery store, we
sell nails and bolts.'
Ukai forms the first word of a number of little Dhrassthat add intensitv to
colloquial speech,e.g.ukai rzr,in'notplay,'equivalentto English 'nojo[e,'
and,ukai mimit,'not a litde,' i.e., a whole lot.
u 85
Ukaimainpariassaftari-ra'.'No joke [it's] hot today.'
Ukai mimit-mimitperau di pengkalnn.'Not a few boatsat the dock.'
Whenr/(ai appearsasthefirst word in a sentence,it hasthemeaningof 'It's
not that...'
Ukaiaka bisi'lapaaakuka'nguji aja'. 'Ut'sl not [that]I'm hungry,I
just wantto try.'
It should be clear that you cannotuse ukai to iegate a verb, without an
explicit contrast. You cannotnormally saysomethinglike-
*Akuukai motonggetah.
because
we'releft hanging.Youcansay,though-
Ukai aku motonggetah,aku nebas. 'It's not that I'm tappingrubber,
I'm clearingbrush.'
However,utdi is not usedif thereis no expressedor implicit contrast.If
you want to say that somethingdoesnot have a certainquality, then use
mda'before ttrc adjective:Iya enda' tinggi. 'He is not tall.' To describea
person'ssizethis way carriesno implication that in fact he is small.
Notice that in negativecopulativesentences. wherethe predicateis an
adjective,the word order is most often the reverseof the positive, and
lookslike English.
Ukir nya' enda' marui. 'That carvingis not good.'
Enggai,3don'twant'
lf yon donl want to do something,you makethe negativewith the modal
arxillary enggai.
Aku enggaimeda'jerebug{ datai baru. 'I don't want to sethe haze
comeanew.'
Berungnya'enggaimasukka mataja runut'This threaddoesn'twant
to go into theneedle'seye.'
Enggaicanbe usedto mean'will not' asthenegationof a future senseif i$
subjectis humanbeingor somethingthatcanbe thoughtof asanimate,and
thus possessinga will. The two most commonthings which are not
personswith which enggaiis usedareplantsandthe weather.
84 Anotherborrowing,from Malay,bcausethis wasthe wor(i usedin the newspapNandon
TV for the terible smokeof August 1997.
 Kami enggai nurun ka Kuching pagila' . 'We won't go to Kuching Yes!
tomorrowmoming.'
'Yes'is aa'.
Buah pisang tu' enggaimansaulebohmusinujan tu'. 'The bananas
A: Kati nuandeka' nguji makaibuahrian? 'Do you want to try
don't want [to become]ripe in this rainy season.'
to eatdurian?'
Enggai ujan sahari t&'. 'It doesn'twant to rain today.' B: A['.,'Yes!'
If enggaiis usedwith otherinanimateobjects,it gives a slight feeling that In Ibanthereis noneof thatconfusionwhichsometimeshapFns in other
the object is personified. This personificationcanies, perhaps,a senseof languages:A: 'You haven'tyet visitedSarawak?'B:'Yes.' [A, puzzled:
annoyance. 'Hashe or hasn'the?"1
Benangnya'enggaimasukkamanjarumar.'Thisthreaddoesn'twant In Iban the exchangewould go like this:
to go into the needle'seye.'
A: Nuan bedaunemuaika Sarawak?
But with inanimatesubjectsalways,and with animatesubjectswherethe B: Bedau.
distinctionof wantingto or not is unimportant,the phnse that expressesa
negativeof a future inlban is enla' deka.' The properway to answer,in agrcement,a negativequestionis to repeat
the negativethe questionerused.
Jatnbatanenda' dzka' di-gaga' sebedautqundue ribu. 'The bridge A: Nadai ikan terubok di pasar? ' Are thercno terubokfish in the
will not be built beforethe year 2000.' market?'
B: NadaL'Therearen't.'
Anang
But if you contradictthe questioner,then-
In order to commandsomebodynot to do something,use th word
anangplus the normalform of the verb. A: Nadai ikan terfubokdi pasar?
B: Bisi'! 'Thereare!'(or 'Got!')
Anangnyabutbungazya'./'Don't pull out theflowers!'
or, whenappropriate.useaftai.
The expressionanangga' canmean'far less' in the middle of a sentence:
Iya bedaunemungaga'ulu duka', anangga' ngaea'rumoh!'He d.esn't Questions
yet know how to makea knife-handle,much lessa house!' In Iban, as in English,you can take a positive statementand tum it into a
questionsimply by altering the intohationof the sentence.
Bedaulapin
Nuanka'enggau.[voicedropsat end] 'Yor.r'llcomealong.'
Thesetwo words combinetense-markingfunction with that of making a
Nuanka'enggau?fraisedpirchof voiceat endl 'You'll comealong?'
sentencenegative.They both mean'not yet,' In conversation,if someone
asksyou whetheryou havedonesomethingthatyou habituallydo, andyou Iban differs from English in that where English makesquestions,with
haven'tdoneit, thecorrectresponse is notenda',whichmakesit soundas question-words,by rearrangingthe word-orderof the positive sentence,
thoughyou haven't done it and are nevergoing to do it, but bedou, 'not Iban placesthe questionword at the beginningof the sentence,but keps
yet.'A common formula for greeting is the question Udah makai? the sameword order,
'Alreadyeat?.' I
Iya dntdi. 'Fre'scoming.'Kemaiq iya darai? 'When is he cominf
Wrong A: Udahnakai?
Nunn meda'sapatadi di pengkalan? 'Whom did you seeiurt no* ut
B: Enda'.
thelanding?'
[A, puzzled,thinks:'Whatdoeshe mean?Doeshenevereatl'l
RiCht . A: Udahmakai? More commonly,you want to makesopd'who?' comefirst in the sentence,
B: Bedau. for emphasis,you mustusethe passiveform of the verb.
86 87
 Sapadi-peda' nuandi pengkalantadi? 'Who was seenby you just Commands
now at the landing?' In orderto request,urge,ask,or commandsomebodyto do something,use
So:Namautqi di-asohnuanbeli ari pasar? 'What thing is askedby you to the root form of the verb plus the suffix -n6h. Irup-nih! 'Dinkl'
be boughtfrom town?' = 'What do you want boughtfrom town?' This usageof the verb is calledinperative. Do not misunderstand:making
rKatiis a fine word you put at the beginningof a sentenceto signal that a comrnandsoundslike a harsh and arrogantthing to do. In English,
you're asking a question. It functions rather like the expressionEJr-ce everydaycommands--'shutthedoor'etc.---arecommonlysoftenedby some
que...?'ls itthat...?' at th beginningof a questionin French. Indeed,you litde.formula: 'Shut the door, please.' Nonetheless,English commands
will often hear MalaysiansspeakingEnglish begin a questionwith 'Is it are,gramrnatically,
comrnands.Ibandoesnot normallybotherwith 'pleases,'
thatyou...?' andthereis nothing impolite or rudeaboutsayingto your hostess,if she's
rnakingcoffee,Bai m6hkitu"Bing[itl here.' taving offthe -mihmakes
Kati nuqnkalamedt' badakdi kampongt'?'Haveyou ever seena the comnand lessformal-
rhinocerosin thisforest?'
nrakai! 'eatl'
Kada is another word that signals a question, but unlike kqti, which
implies that the speakeris mercly asking for information, kada means or more abrupt: Jalai! 'Movel'The exact feeling associatedwith a
that the speakerhasdoubtsabouthis question. commandyou can tell from the tone of voice. SayingJal.ai! in an angry
mannerwill mean'Scram!' Toneof voicematksa differencein Makai asi!
Kadaenda'iyaudahmakai?'He hasn'teatnyet,hashe?' 'Eatalready!'85 whetheryou'resayingit in friendlyfashionto thefamiry
Seethe entry in Richardsfor a completeexplanationdf the nuancesof this or in an annoyedway to a sulky child.
wotq. Beforecommandsaddressed to a groupofpeople, including the theperson
Ouestionwords commanding,tlrc particle ararn (which is often abbreviatedto am) gives
the feeling of exhortationor encouragement.Aramjalai-m6h kitai! 'Let's
sapq who? go!'
nana what? ldo not confusewith nama, 'name,']
namakabuah what reason?[='why?']
kt means'let, let alone,allow' andis oftenusedwith theprepositionfrain
,ta who?what?which? wherc?how? what about? rqueststo permit somebodyto do something:
karuia when? Lak ka iya tinlok agi '. 'Let her sleepsomemore.'
kati question marker at bginningof sentence= 'Is it
that...?' The conjunction awak-ka can introduce a command directed to a
kapa' what for? why?. third-personnoun.
balu ni how? ---dit' Altnh Taalalalu bejaka,'ko' iya,'Awak-l<a
dunya bisi'penampalg
berapa how many/rnuch?[followed by a nounor adj in nya' alai dunyalalu tampak 'And cod said,Let therebe lighl and there
thegenitivepositionl waslight.' [Genesis1:3].
dini where?
kini to where?whither? We havealreadystienanangasthe word for a prohibitive command,One
ari ni from where? way to ask somebodyto do somethingin a soft way is to use the double
ni Wngelama' how long? ['what length of time?'] negaliveonangenda"don't nol...'
ni bansa what kind? , Arangenda'ingatmnipayung.'Don'tforget['notremember']to bring
To ask someone'sname,you use an idiom that needsexplanation:^lapa an umbrella,'
nanmnuan?literally,'Who ale you [by] name?'
85 Makai agi is literally'eat some more'; its force is that of 'kcs eat.'

88 89
 Prelmsitions of Spate and motian
A strong (but not necessarily rough) way of saying you zaJ, do something
is aosayEndq' tqu endq' 'Cannot not!' The most important prepositions of space or movement are not many.
Nuan enda' tau enda'nulis ngagai aku. 'You mus, write to me.' di, ba in, at, on
ka to
Prepositions
ari from
A preposition is hterally a word 'put in front of' a noun in order to make
These cbmbine with other words to express more specific dirertions or
clear tlat noun's relationship, in any number of ways, with some otler
positions:
thing or element of tlle sentence. For example, you can have pisarg
atas: over, above
'banana' a\d ajat 'backpack-basket' but only pisang di ajat means 'banana
di atas on top of, above (pronounced and written.dctas)
rn the baskeu' yolu canhave bejalai 'goes' afrd bukit 'mountain,' but you
ka atas to the top of, over (Von. katas)
need to s y bejalai ka atas bukit lo fircarJ 'goes on top of the mountain.'
ari atas from the top of
Enggau
baroh: under
Enggau is a special case. It means both 'and' and 'with,' and is therefore di barch undemeatl
both a conjunction and a preposition. As a conjunction enggau carl join kabaroh downwards
only single words and phrases. Let us first discuss how it works as a ari baroh from beneath
preposition.
And the same for:
Enggau as a preposition means 'with,' in all the sensesthat 'with' has in
dalar.n inside
English: in the senseof accempaniment-
luar outside
Sam udah angkat ka sekula enggau Jilim tadi. 'Sdrn has just lefi for belakang behind
school with Jilim.' tengah middle
nlun front of (lit: 'face. always di/ka/ari mua + a to\rL)
or of instrumentor meansby which-
antara/entora betweel
Kami lban rindu' makai asi' enggaujari, tang kita' orang puteh eng4au
Another word for 'to, towards' is ngagai, which, as we have seen, is in fact
sidoA 'We Ibans like to eat rice with our fingers, but you white people
a verb.
with a spoon.'
Iya bejalai knki ngagai Sunbas. 'He walks on foot towards Sambas.'
or of manner in which-
The 'to, towards' senseof rgagci can be usedwhen the idea of direction is
Enggau ati ti' lantang aku mnlas surat nuan ti' di-kirumnuan kena'
somewhat metaphorical:
21 hb- bulan ,adi. 'With joy (lit: 'with a happy heart') I answer the
letter sent by you on the 2 I st of last month.' Kita' mesti nulis surat siti' ngagai D.O. 'You must write.a letter to the
District Officer.'
Enggau,like bisi' in the example above, can be repeated wift each element
of a list for emphasis. ..jako' ti di-kern' ngajar di-tukar ngagai jako' English. '...the
language used in teaching was changed to English.'
Enggau aku undor sama enggau Tuan Bryan4 enggau Major Fisheri
enggau Kapitan siko,' aku enda' ingat kn nama. 'With me, went Orang nyema'-ka anak uting nya' ngagai.,.remaungnegong...'Some-
downriver together with Mr. Bryant, with Major Fisher, with a certain one compares the piglet to a roaring leopard...' 86
caDtain. I don't remember the name.'

86ans,p.u.

9l
90
Ngagai can also have come before a noun to signal that it is the indirect Kelimpah 'besides,' used in the phrase kelimpah ari with the force of 'm
object: addition to:'
Gani bejafut' ngagai aku. 'Gani spoke to me.' iya*dikena' bejako'-ka utai bukai kelimpah ari mensiq taukq antu
Iya meri duit nya' ngagai iya. 'She gave the money to her.' 'Iya-used to express other things in addition to human beings and
Ngagai as a preposition 'to or 'towards indicates there is a specific goal on spirits'88
and to the motion. 'Towards' in the sense of in the direction of [but not The prepositionusedto specify datesis /<eza'. It means 'on.'
necessarily intendint to reach therel' can be expressed by nuju, another
verb, from the root tuTa 'aim.' Hari empqt ti' ko' datai, kna' 30 hb. bulan empat tu', komiti tatah
Kpg. Lubok Gayau ka'baum. 'Next Thursday,on the 30th ofApril,
Iya bejalai nuju bukit 'He walked towards the hill.' R the grounds committee of Kampong Lubok Gayau will hold a
Another preposition of direction: meeting.'

naka as far as, up to The abbreviation&b.abovestandsfor ra ibulan'day oftherno h.'Nyentok

Often used in the adverbial phase naka z//r 'as far as possible.'
Other preposilions
The preposition that signals that something is being done for somebody's
benefit or something's sake is ka. This performs the same function as the
English preposition 'for,'or signalsthat the following noun is the indirect
object of the sentence.Don't confuseka either with tc' 'want,' kq 'to,' or
the causative sufflx -fta.
Iya nadah ka aku bisi'ikan di pasar 'He told me there was fish in the
market.'
Beri nya' ka aku. 'Give it to me.'
We have seen that certain verbs must be followed by the preposition kd
and the thing or person on whom the idea of the verb is directed:
Aku rindu' ka iyo. lalu aku arap ka iya. 'I love her, and I trust her.'
ktben 'beca'use' specifies a reason.
means'up lo.'
Kerja gotong-royongka'berengkahkcna'2 hb. Mei nyentokka 4 hb..
'Communal work will begin on the 2nd of May up to the 4th.'
Iban often does without prepositions, whereas English relies heavily upon
them. We have already seenhow such ideas as 'They went around the house'
are conveyed by two verbs in parallel. There is, for example, no preposition
in Iban which means 'without.' In Iban, the sentence 'Give me a tea
without milk and sugar'would be rendered Beri aku tdh o kosong satu,
literally, 'Give me one black,empty tea.' The sentence'He went to Kuching
without his wife' would be recast as, Il,a nurun ka Kuching fudiri': bini
rwdai enggau'He wentdown to Kuching alone;his wife didn't come along.'
More on kena'
Although when used in this way with dateskeria'functions exactly like a
preposition,and in this usagewe call it apreposition,in factfena'is a verb.
In its root form it has several meanings. Most basic is 'to hit' as in 'the dart
hit the mark.' This can be used metaphoricallywith speechor ideas:

Aku clap laban ujan. 'I'm cold because [of the] rain.'
Bata 'like' is a preposition that equates one thing with another.
Kueh tu' kering baka /<ayal 'This cake is hard like wood!'
Baru tu'puteh baka /rapor 'This rock is white like chalk.'
Pcsal 'about'
Iya nemu pasal ensera Apai Saloi ti' befi "He knows about the stories
of Father-of-Saloi the Stupid.' er
Jako' tu' kena' bendar alai nerang-kapekara tu ', 'Thesewords are fit
to clariry this matter.'
Then, 'to get,' For example, Iya kena' sakit'He got [a] sickness.' This
sentencecould be translated'He got sick,'which illustrateshow, like the
English 'get,' kena' can be used with a verb root to create passive
expressions. Iya kena' anu' guru laban iya enda'ingat mai kereja iya ka
sekula 'He got scolded by his teacher because he forgot to bring hrs
87atrt p. tsl .
88atrz,p. t9.

92 93
homework to school.' A favorite pfuase, to say humorously that you got a Conjunctions and clauses
scolding is A/<l &eza'Dorz.'I got bombed!'
Some terms, Conjunctions arelinle words that connect other words, phrases,
Kena ' can also mean 'used for:' or clauses, or set them apart. The two most common conjunctions in
English are 'and' and 'or.'
Utai tu' kena' ngemiru-kakain. 'This thing is usedto dye cloth blue.'
R. A phrase is a gronp of words that bundles several ideas into one packet, but
which cannot be a sentenceon its own.
The nasalized form, ngena'; is an excellent example of how Iban words
function equally well in different part-of-speech categories. Ngena'can of tasik biru dalsm 'deep blue sea'
course be 4 pure verb. This nasalized form means 'to use.' nanampad i'plant ingr ice'
Iya ngena' kapak awak-ka nebang kayu' nya', 'He used an axe to fell A clarse is a sentencethat exists as one part of a complex sentence. The
that tree.' clauses in the following sentence are called coordbate ('placed side by
side'). The following example can easily be split into two complete
As a preposition,rgena'is the most common word for 'with' in the sense
sentences:
of doing something'with' an instrument,or to express'by meansof.'
Tuai ramoh mutus-kq aum, lalu masok bilik ia. 'The headman ended
Iya ngunci sekeru injin nya' ngena' lungga. 'He tightened [from krnci
the meeting, and entered his apartment.'
'lock'l the screw of the outboardwith a knife.'
A subordinate cla]useis a group of words that courd be a sentence,excePt
Aku nurun kt pasar ngerw' bas. 'I came down to townby [on the]
that it is introduced by a conjunction or pronoun that makes it 'subservient'
bus.'
to a main sentencein which it is embedded.
You will remember other verbs that are tsed., like ngena' , as prepositions.
Sebedau aku pulai ai wtmi,. 'Before I came back from the farm...'
To review: ngenang 'conceming,' murryi 'like, as,' ngagai 'to, towards,'
and others. 'And'
Adverbs of position and dhection Iban differs from English by splitting the concept of 'and' in two. The
conjunction lalu can connect clauses, but not single words. The
While we're at it, we may as well discuss adverbs of direction and position
conjunctior/prepositiot enggqu call connect single words and phrases,but
under the heading of prepositions, becausemany of them are formed from
not clauses.
prepositions in much the same way that the more specific prepositions are.
Iya nimbak lalu iya kena'. 'He fired and he hit.' R.
ditu' I=di + tu'l here
Aku enggau Sam nurun ka sungai . 'I and Sam went down to the
dia' [= ii a ;Ya1 there, quite near
river.'
dedia' l= di+dio' Sebsyauonlyl there
Kitai lban indu'makai asi' enggau sup. 'We Ibans like to eat rice and
ny,n there
soup.'
nzn [Sebuyau] there
kitu' lka + tu'l to here As you can see, these sentencescan perfecdy well be repbrased as 'I went
kia' ,ka + iyaJ to there, quite near to the river with Sam,'and'We Ibans like to eat rice with soup.'
kin [ka + qin] to there, farther away Sometimes enggar behaves as a conjunction, sometimes as a preposition.
ari tu' from here
Iban does not rely on words for 'and' as much as westem languages do.
ai nyin from there
Iban speakers, when describing an array of things, will often just string
them together.
Bisi'ikan, sayu6 babi, sapi, sup, paku', tubu', maioh macam pemakai.

94 95
 [We] had fish, vegetables, pork, beef, soup, fems, bamboo shqots, all
sons of food.'
lJse af enggau is optional. You can, if you want, express this menu as
Englishdoes,ending...paku',tubu', enggaumaiohmacarnpemakai'...fems.
bamboo shoots, and all sorts of food,' but omitting the enggaa does not
rhake the style more informal.
The force of 'and,' when meantto be emphatic'and also.' can be expressed
in Iban by putting each item in its own little clause, with the verb repeated-
Jilim bisi' dia', Sambisi', Babil bisi', Nana bisi'... 'Jilim is there,Sam
is [there], Babil is [there], Nana's [there]...
You could also translatedris as 'Jilim is there, and Sam, and Babil, and
Nana...'
Likewise-
Dqlatn berqm nya' iya ngulai ai' di-suma[ iya ngulai gula.
, ngulai lia', ngulai ragi mipis, ngulai ragi segala. 'In the rice mash
she mixed boiled water, shemixed sugar, mixed ginger, mixed flat
yeast,mixed round yeast.'89
Iya bisi' di kebun, tauka iya nuritn nginti'. 'She is on the garden,or
she has gone fishing.'
Aku bedeu meda' iya, tang aku berandau enggau iya ngena' telepon.
'I haven't seen him, but I have talked with him on the telephone.'
Nadai bisi'ikan di pasar,nya'alai aka meli tiga iko' ketam gemu'.
'There was no fish in town, thercfor I bought tbrce fat crabs.'
Bisi' ujan sahari-qri, nyadi ai' angkat di sungai. 'T\ere was rain all
day, and so the water rose in the river'
Iya bejako' ka aku enggau manah, tambah mega' iya madah aku datai
ka rumah iya. 'He spoke to me kindly, and furthermore he invited me
to come to his house,'
Lalu, nya' alai, nyadi, and tqmbah mega'can conneit not otrly clauses
within a complex sentence,but link discrete sentencesalso. They stand at
the beginnings of sentences,and are favorite ways ofbeginning a new topic,
or of summing up an old one.
Lalu karni angkat pulai ka rumah. Malam nya'petang bendar 'Ttten
we got up to go home. The night was really dark.'

A further conjunction, serera, also means 'with' but more strongly: Nya' alai Pengulu ngasoh bala ind:u kami serumah nyumai tuak.
'together with.' Unlike enggau, it has no uses other than emphasizing 'Therefore, our chief asked the women of the house to make
connection. dce-wine.'

Kami nanam kncang seretqjagung. 'We planted beans with com.' Nyadi, aku ka' nerang-ka semoa reti ceritq nya'. 'So, I shall explain
the whole meaning of the story.'
Simple and complex smtences
Subordinating conjunctions :
Iban shows the same variety of ways of making sentences that English
does. Iban sentencescan be simple or complex; complex sentencescan be l) Iogical
made of coordinate clauses or of subordinate clauses, or of a mix of both. enti' if
Coordinating co4iunctions :
[See sectionbelow]
lalu and (or better, 'and then') taja' although
tauka ot whether
tang but Taja' iya agi biak, iya udah bulih penernz. 'Although she is still
nya'alni therefore,so young, she has already got wisdom.'
nya.di then,so laban because [also used as a preposition]
tambahmzga' furthermore
Aku pulai nmu laban aku nedh' hari ka' ujan.'I came back
Exwnples: Iya nimbalg lalu iya kerw'. 'He fired and he hit.' R.
early because I saw therc was going to be rain.'

89 This describesthe secondstageof makingrra& 'rice-wine.' alai because

96 97
 Aku nyantok alai aku dani samalam-malam tadi. 'l'm sleepy go home.' R.
becauseI was awake all last night.'
barangmaia 'whenever'
sakali'-ka whether
Nuan mu nemuai barang maia bisi' hari serta peneka'. 'Yolu can
Ennh aku sakali'-ka iya pulai. 'I'm unsure whether he is going visit whenever tlpre's the time and the inclination.'
back.'
benong while (in the middle o0
enti sene' supposing that, for example
Benong akt nnndi, aku ninga orang ngangau ka aku. 'While I was
Enti sema' orang datai, iyo tqu tindok dnlam kibong ba bathing, I heard someone call to me.'
raai. 'Supposing someone conies, he could sleep inside a
mosquito-net on the veranda.' sektmbang while (since, during, as long as)

engka 'perhaps, in case' Sehmbang iya diau di Kuching iya gerai. 'Nhlle he has been
living in Kuching he has been healthy.'
Bai kapak tu' ngogqi iya mgkaiya ka' ngeno' nyq'.'Bring this
axe to him in case he wants to use it.' Sekunbang bisi' mon nadai agi' tusah nurun ka Ftsar 'Since there's
been a car, it's no longer difficult to get to town.'
baka as lwith nouns the preposition 'like'l
ud4h after, aheady
Iya maca bup baka orang ti' mal<ni asi'. 'He reads books as
someone eats rice.' Udah kani nunu, lalu katni narnm padi. 'After we bumed [the land],
then we planted rice.'
ngambi'-kn, awak-kt so that, in otder tlat
Udah empat minggu aku batok laban sakit pefu. 'Already four weeks
Kqmi empu ngadu injinnya'ngambi-ka bejirnat duit. 'Wefixthe I have been coughing becauseof the flu.'
out bdard ourselves in order to sDaremonev,'
kenyauai since
enggai-ka lest
Kenyau ai bulan adi iya diau di langkau ba urnai iya. 'Sincelast
Iya nyaga umai enggai-ka di-rusak jelu. 'He guards his farm lest month he has been living in the hut on his farm there.'
it be ravagedby animals.' R.
alai where, when
2) Of time and space
Aku enda' nemu alai iya kereja. 'I don't know where he works.'
sebedau before Bam dudnk aku alai iya datai. 'l Ind just sat down when he
Aku ka' nembu'-ka kcreja aku sebedau iya /atai. 'I want to finish arrived.' R.
my work before she comes.' endar where
kboh. leboh maia when Iya ngiga' end.ur ngaga' nmah. 'He is looking where to build a
Leboh iya dntai, aku benong bekereja di keDrn. 'When he came, I house.'
was in the middle of working in the garden.' barang endur whercver
Leboh maia nya' suba' aku agi' mit, mcnoa agi' kncau. 'When at Kulnt nyamai bal<atu' tunboh barang endur orang muai pala' sawit.
that time I was still small, the country was in a disturbed state.' 'Tasty mushrooms like this spring up wherever people tlrow out
maia when oilpalm heads.'

Datai hari maia sida' ka' pulai- 'The day came when they were to kelimpah 'since' [in the senseof'except since']

98
 Aku nadai bejako' enggau iya kelimpah ari tua betemu enggau iya. 'l
haven't spokenwith him since we two met with him.'R.
Speakers of Iban can certainly connect clauses like this to come up with
some long and intricately balanced sentences,and it is possible to see such
in poetry and in traditional oratory. However, becausethe genius of Iban is
so greatly that of people who speak together, like all forms of
conversation-oriented speechit relies much on context and keeps sentences
short and, at the longest, easily speakable in one breath.
Relative clauses,lr' and te
A relative clause begins lif as a sentence: Iya bediri' di simpang jalai.
'He is standing at the street comer.' Then the subject is removed and
replaced by a relative pronoun. The resulting clause is a sentenceno longer,
but when inserted into another sentencefunctions like an adjective to modify
a noun:
Iya bediri'di simpangjalai. 'He is standing at the street comer.'+
Iya ngangau ka aku. 'H calls to me.' --)
Orang ti' bediri' di simpang jalai ngagau ka aku. 'The man who is
standingat the streetcomer calls to me.'
The relativepronoun li'orte can work only to indicatea subject,and so llte
only kind of relative clausepossiblein Iban is one which the pronoun acts
as a subject. (English, on the other hand, can can make relative clausesin
which the relative pronoun is an object 'whorn,' or indirect object 'to whom,'
etc.)
Aku betemu enggau orang ti' bekebun lada di ulu din. 'I metthe
personwho raisespepperin a gardenupriver there.'
If you want to say 'I met the personlrionr...' in which the relative pronoun
in English is an object, you must use the passive in that clause in lban.
Aku betemu enggau orang ti' di-Eqji Apai ngereja umai kitai."I met tbe
man who was hired by Father to work our farm.'
There is a spebial way the word ti' or &eoperates in lban like an article. If
you want to say 'Give me the big one,' in Iban it comesout as,
Beri ti' besai.
You can understand this as being a very abbreviated expression of the
sentence'Give me [out of all the possiblechoices,the one] which [is] big '
The number of possible choices is always apparent from context. For
example, the two ofyou are repairing an outboard and your friend asks for
a particularphilips-headscrewdriverout of threesizes. Or,Iyanadai nenu
100 100
ngaga'utai ti' jai' 'He doesnot know to do what'sbad.'(Obviously,as
opposedto whafs good.) Anakke mit'the smallkids' (asopposedto the
biggerones).
PoeticIbanoftenusesa noun/adjective plusverbconstruction
to expressa
conceptwhich prosewould put into a relativeclause.
. bul.oh bauh belanggai .bayan 'the tall bamboos lwhich arel
[as of tail-feathersofl parakeets.'
equipped-with-outsticking-leaves
The samehappensin colloquial speech:
Baka ukoi nemupasir 'Like a dog [that] finds sand.'s
'That': Reportedspech
Thereis no conjunctionfor 'that' in lban, as thereis in Malay and in
English. The words or thought or fact that you are reporting are simply
relatedin parallelnext to the main verb of sayingor thinking or knowing,
Iya madah buah limqu baru datai tli pasar 'I{e sayslsaidfthat] or
angesarejust now arrivedin the markel'
English,too, often dropsthe 'that' in the sameway, asyou can see.
Moreexamples:
Kami nemukita' nadaiulih nemuaingagaikamitauntu'. 'We know
you can'tvisit us thisyear.'
Watudahbisi'datai.'Heexpectswat i s alreadyarrived.'
Iya nyangka';
Katni ditu' arap ka kin' di din gerairyatnaimagangbakaselama'.
'We here hope you there are all healthy and happy as usual-'
[a standa-rdphrasein letters.l
When an Iban is reporting somebodyelse's words, the pronounsof tlle
original quotechangejust asthey do in similar circumstancesin Engtish:
Dirert quote:'He said,' Last year we got plenty of rice."' Iya madah 'Thun
tadi kamibulih ntaiohpadi.' lndrect: Ila nudah munmdi sidabulih maoih
padi. 'He saidlast year they got a lot of padi.'
The reflexive diri''self' appearsas the pronounin the clauseof the thing
reportedwhenthe personit standsfor is the sameasthe persondoing the
reporting.
n Asenpana
iako'or proverbialplrase that descrittessomeonerunning aboutftrriouily.
l0l
 Wat madahdiri'deka'pulai ka Semenanjung pagird'.'Watsaidhe
wasgoing to retum to the Peninsulatomorrow.'
Narrative. the verb ko'
The most usualverb for 'say' in reporting speechor telling storiesis ta'
(shortforjato''langnge, talk'lbejqko"speaks').Ka' alwayspreceeds its
subject,as we in Englishusedto say 'Said he...,' and can be usedfor
introducingdirect quotesaswell asreportedspeech.
Diect: Ko' iya, 'MusinJepunsuba' akubarupansutari sekuln.' He
said,"In theJapaneseperiodformerly I had just got out of
school."
lndjnect:Ko' iya, musin Jepunsuba' iya barupansutari sekula.'He
said in the Japaneseperiodformerly he hadjust got out of
school.'
Ot withdiri': ...Ko' iya,tnusinJepunsuba'dii' udah...
The formula ta' iya can also follow or be insertedin the middle of the
quotedor reportedspeech-
'Akunemujalai mai kita' ka Debah' ko'iya. ' "I know thervayto take
you to Debak," he said.'
Iya nemumaiohcein Inru, ko' iya. 'He knowsmanyold stories,he
says.'
'Nama,'ko' iya, 'utaitu'?' 'what,' he said,'is thisthing?'
Ko' often appearsin pmallel with anotherverb describingthe mannerin
which somethingwas said. Thesehavebecomefomulaic expressions:
...k)'iya nyaut...'he said[in] answer'
...ko'iyanganu'sida'...'shesaidinstructing(or, 'chiding')them.'
As menlionedaboveregardingthe simplepastin the sectionon tense,the
verb will look the samewhetherit expressesa presentaction or onein the
past:&o'is both 'say' and 'said.' Although &o'is commonlyusedin
narrative,you cannotautomaticallyassumethat its primary feeling is past,
ratheryou mustpay attentionto contextto figureout which of the two it is.
Obviously,whenyou hearsomeoneusingfo'while telling a story,to 'is to
be takenaspast, 'said.' Thereare otherusesof fo' whereit hasa present
meaning:
Pia'kb'aku. 'That'swhatI say.'[or, 'think']
Katiko'nuan? 'what aboutyou?
ro2
And /<o'incertainformulascanmeansimply'as.'
Iya nu rnali' diri' nyailisebarangutai bukaiko' ati iya.9l 'He can
changehimself to becomeany otherthing he likes '
For otheridioms, seeRichards'entry on /ro'.
Enti' 1'Y', Condiiions
The Iban languagedoes not make an explicit distinction whther
somethingmigtrt happenor might havehappened,or distinguishwhethera
possibility is open or closed.You leam the proper nuancefrom context.
The Iban word for 'if is enri', andit is followed by the verb asyou'd useit
normallY.
Enti'hari bisi' ujan, kitai enggaikapasar 'If it rains,we won't [go] to
town.'
Enti'qk:u ka Amzricasubq,'diatu' tentu akutau'berandaungena'
jako'orang puteh. 'lf I had been to America' I certainly could
conversenow in white people'slanguage[English]"
This is to saythat Iban doesnot indicatethe moodof the verb by a special
form. Thereis no way the Iban verb changesin a way to correspondto the
English'were,' 'would,' 'could,' suchaswe useto expressa hypothetical
oossibilitv and in 'if'sentences, and which English grammarterms
iubjurniie forms.e2
In lban, the verb can be understoodas hypotheticalin context' For
example,in a geometricalproblem, 'let threbe two straightlines' canbe
translatedasbisi' drd bctangsuranti' lurus.'
In English we havethe 'hortatory' subjunctive,famousin rhetoric:
'Let us thereforebraceouBelvesto our duty.."
Iban expressesthis by commands,or by introducingthe exhortationwith
awak-ka,uthich canroughly be translated'let.'
Awak-kaiyabemainenqgauayMnnuarL'lt him Playwith your toys.'
R.
9l Bum+ l9?9p.53
I Specialforms of lhe subjunclivearedying our in English,or takingrheir placesasspamte
modil verbs. For example,one might say,core-ctly,'!f it rain, we will not eatoutdoors,'but
mo6t people now say 'If it rains, we will no!...' 'Could' and 'would' startedlife as the
subiunctiveforms of 'can' and 'will,' but ale now felt assepatateverbs.
103
Word order
This qughtnot to havecomesolate. However,you can seethat-with the
importantexceptionof the 'head-first'rule in phrases-Iban word orderis
mosdy like that of English, andnot likely to needmuch explanation.The
most important similarity betweenIban and English word order is the
pattem subject-verb-object.Since neither English nor Iban changestho
form of nounsto distinguishwhen they are usedas subjector as object,
gramriaticalfirnction inboth languagesis,iridicatedby position. The inoist
important difference between.Ibanand English word order is the
placementof adjectivesandadverbs.In Iban they normally comeaf0erthe
word they modify.
This similarity is the reasonI have not explainedsuch things as
apposition,explaining a word or phraseby a parenthesis,in detail. An
example:
Bisi' sepunkayu'tebelian,kayu'kering seretaberat,ba tebingsungai.
, 'There wasonebelian tree,a tongh,heavywood, on the river bant.'
As in English,subjectsof clausescan be omitted,andsuppliedfrom the
main sentence:
' Apinjadi enggauini' katninya',dia' Melintang bisi'mimpr'.'Before
marryingour grandmother, Melintanghada dream.'
You will find, I believe,little difficulty in detectingand understanding
sintactical parallelsof this sort. r.
However,when you start getting into rapid colloquial speecfuyou will
notice that lbans take a great deal of liberty even with such significant
pattemsasthe subject-verbsequence. In intransitivesentences
subjectscan
be placedafter the verb:
Leboh maia pegai iepun ,-d)i b"ioloi ka m,enuabukai kitailban.
'When [the country] washeld by the Japanesedid not travel to other.
countrieswe Iban.'
The subject often comes after the verb in clauses of time that begin a
sentence.
Angkat kami ari rrya' Iala undor ka Belaga. Datai karni di Kapit, neda'
opis di-tutup. 'Got we up from there tlen went do*nriver to Belaga. Apu./apoh.besaiai tu !
Came we to Kapit, [we] saw the office closed.'
Other adverbs, intnsifierc, particls atrd interjections
t
Like every other lairguage,Iban has a nuinber of exremely useful litfle

104
words,thatarenot,at leastfor thepurposes of a bookthis like thi$,ea$ily
Their
classifiable. prinary purposeis to make transitionsbetwccnmd
referencesamong the sentencesof a conversation,to smooth thc
abruptnessout of talk, andto addnuanceandemphasis.One litde paniclc
makesplace-names.I will takethemoneby one.
Pt4'means 'thus' or 'so' andrefersbackto somethingsomeonehassaid,or
hasbeendoing.
A: Aku nadaimeda'iya di runah. 'I don't seeherin thelonghouse.'
B: Iya nurun ka Kuching kemai. 'She went down to Kuching
yestrday.'
A: Oh,pia'. 'Oh, so [it is].'
Plc' is very offen usedin reportingquotes.
'Karni mestinanamgetahdi kebundin,' pia' ko' iya. ' "We must
plant nibber in the gardenthere," so he said.'
-Mdh:Wehave alreadyseen-my'i in its useasthemarkerof a command'It
can also be usedto make the preceedingword more emphatic:Au-mdh!
'Yes indeed!'It is helpful in making strong affirmatory sentences:
Besai-mCh ai' tu'! "Itrc tide is rcally high!' Indeed,a perfectlygood
sentencecan consistof adj. + -mft,if you all know what's being referred
b. CAbp-rEh! '!lt'sl really cold!' Therearemanycolloquial phraseswith
-zlh built in, for examplenu-mdh 'carl.do.'
Thereareseveralotherwordsthatresemble-mihin theit usage,-ddh,-ga',
-lah. The last, -lah, is a little-udedborrowing from Malay, but I mentionit
for a particular reason.Malaysiansand SingaporeansspeakingEnglish
addthe particle Jah very often to all kinds of expressions,and infact -lah
has becornenaturalizedin the English of this area. You will hear
expressionslike 'Let's eat, lah,' 'okay lah,' 'So I told him that, lah,'
'Expensive, lah!,' 'Friday,lah,'or thedelightful'No waylah!' Theeasiest
and pleasantestway to leam the useof -zift is to pick up the way people
useJah in what they call 'Singlish,' or 'Manglish.'
tatc: This is an emphasizingword that comesbefore the word it
emphasizes.Tak mnncal nembiak tu'! 'This kid is really naughty!' Idl.
can be used in sentencesthat are either exclamatoryor affirmative,
whlfe -mAhetrc.canbe usedonly in commandsor affirmations.
Dipegai Kelingpintu: Sepitak lEkat-lAknt/ Asaika mabakakapknpir
lelabi.
'The door was held by Keling. It felt very stuck, very stuck. It felt like

t05
pulling the shell off a river-turtle.' 93
Endang: This word also precedes the word it emphasizesand means somethinglike'Mr.' In Malay, si is used before thc nirmcsol llninl0l$ in
'really, truly, naturatly,always.' It can often be translatedbetter by using fables,bui not with the namesof real peoPle. lban usesthc pttlticlo rr lo
an adjective: make Dlace-names,siuchas Senibong 'Nibong-Palm Placc' und*in itl
'.
traditi;nal spelling-sarawak, whigh may mean 'Antimony Plucc In
Tu'endangapai aku. 'This is my realfather.'R. speuirig the short ; often drops oul Stunggang 'Tunggang-tree ' lll
person,sanu' -Plircc
anu'l
onty one word does se- stand for the title of a l[ron
At the beginning of a sentenceendang can mean 'This is re3lly...' or an
'such-a-one,what's-his-name.'
equivalent.
Interjections
Endqng iyo nemu bekayoh- 'Certzinly he knows [how] to paddle.'
Every languagehaslittle 'cries' that contain meaning English has 'ouch,'
Sigi'. 'simply,' 'absolutely.' Often used with Disi'to indicate that the verb
is being used as an existential: and even ineezesare articulated'ah-choo!' when, if you just let your nose
alone, things go 'chuuuugggghhhh.' The following are the main handy
Tuhan sigi' bisi'. 'God exists.' words in Iban you use when prodded by something out of the ordinary'
Mega':'fhe word mega' means 'also/too' and comes after the word it Akai! General exclamation for things that take you by surprise' The
qtJalifres. Iya mega' terejun/Iya terejun mega ' 'He alsojumped down.' Bisi ' eouivalent to English 'ouch' when you're bit by a mosquito or feel some
agi' mega' 'andthere is another[thing] too.' R. In fast daily speech,mega' other pain. Akaii-Pediskaki aku kenT'giSit nyamo&/ 'Ouch! My foot hurts
is often shortenedto ga'. Aku ga'nemu matai asl"I too know how [='can'] got bii by a mosquito!' Wlren you want to be more dramatic,you can say
to eat rice.' iknt-rai- ekai-rait panas sahari tu'! 'Good grief it's hot today!' or you
can get really &amatic andsayakai Apai, akai lnzla;.'Oh FlJler,oh Mother!'
Pen: Pen comes after the word it modifies. It gives a slight emphasis and
If you're any older than six, using tltis last expressionwill indicate you've
also indicates a contrast with what came $efore. Sida' agi' ngirup di kedai
got your tongue in your cheek.
din; aku pen pulai kerEa. 'They were still drinking [sc. coffee] in the shop
there; I myself went back to work.' Apr.l'Expressessurpriseand disbelif. Apu! Bedaudi umu-raka aku-meda'
iian yu' besai baka nya'l'Good grief I I' ve neverin my life seena shar-k as
Other emphasizers: A number of other words are used for emphasis: qmat Ap,/ Nama kabuah iya
bie is that!' Sometimesopz expressesdisgust.
'true/truly,' balat'sertolslseriously,' bender'sincerelsincerely' (the 'Good grief! What reason he drives like
.oto bqka nvq'? ['why']
typical Iban signoff to a letter is ari aku ti' bendqr'from me who is ^ii
that?'
sincere'= 'sincerely'). All three mean 'very' 'really.' Since they have
meaning of their own apart from being intensifiers, they can be classed as Tud.ah! an expression of symPathy, sad in feellng. A: Apai kami meinsa'
adjective/adverbs.not particles. kuat laban tikit gort. B: Tudah! 'Our father is suffering rnightily from
gout.' 'Foor man.'
Question marker: Rarely you will hear Ibans tack on a little particle at the
end of a question, as a sort of verbal question mark. Kqti u&n nemu iya Amai jara! An expression of empathy, with a smile of agreement' A: A/"'
kah? 'Do you know him?' This particle is more typical of Malay, but it enda'ientu nemuiiko'kita'. B: Amai jara. A: 'I really just don't know your
might very well have been original to Iban, also, because in the Sebuyau language.'B: 'Poor fellow!'
dialect people regularly tag their questions with the particle te
Oil is good old 'ohl' Oh, nemu! 'Oh, now I understand!'
Ni kunci kta te? 'Where are your keys?'
Ail likewise.
Se. This little particle is related to Balinese 1 and Rhadd (an Austronesian
language of Vietnam) f, which are placed before a man's name as a title Ncfrl 'Here!' as in 'here it is, take it!'
Nya'l Often sarcastic.'There you are!'
93 Pirok1966,p. 2.

106
107
Ellipsis, 'leaving things out' taboos)is extendedto morepeople,becausethecircle of intimacy is wider.
Normal,day to day Iban speechis compact,light, andrapid. Ibansliving If you know how you're related, you use the correct term Jor that
familiarly with oneanother,like peopleall over the world, savewordsand rel;tionship. For example:Samuelis threeyearsold. His cousinVictoria,
energyby relying on everybody'sawarenessof the contextin which they who is I 8, hasjust givenbirth to a little boy.That little boy whenhe reaches
speak.So,for example,if someoneis going to town,andaskswhetheryou the ageof talking, will call Samuel'uncle,' even though Samuelis onty
want to get a ride, he may askEnggauka'? which is evenshorterthan the five, ibans don'tihink this is strange.There is much more variety of age
English 'Want to comealong?' Here,your Iban friend knows that he can relationshipin Sarawakthan you usually find in the US.
not only omit the pronoun'you,' asEnglish speakersdo, but alsothe verb
'to come.' We alreadyknow thereis no verb 'to be.' Just this moming I Wonlsof relationship
heard someoneaddrcssinga lady walking towards the budstopwith a apai father
baskt" Nyual ka'?'Selling something?'.In the examplefar backabout indai mother
watermelons,sinceyou andyour companionarc standingin front of a heap ol@' elder brotheror sister
of fruit, there'sno needto befirlly correctandsaybuahsemangkn;semangl<a menyadi' brotheror sister
aloneis enough. However,if you ale talking with somebodyaboutfood, nnnyadi' tuai elderbrother/sister
and nobodyhasmentionedthe topic of fruit, you ought to sayAku rinn ' menyadi'tengah middlesibling
makaibuahsemangka,andsoindicatethatyou areintroducingthegeneral menyadi'biak youngersibling
categoryof fruit. mznyadi'bunsu Youngestsibling
Objectsas well as subjectscan be left out, especiallyin questions,replies anak child
petunggal cousin
to questions,and commands,becausethe topic of conversationis clearer
from contextin thesetypesof sentencesthan in others. aya' uncle
ibu' aunt [Sarawakiansusing English always say
A: Bisi' meda'?''Getto see[him,her,it]?'B: Nadoimeda'.'Didn't 'auntie.'l
see[him,her,it].' tuai oldestuncleor aunt
tmgah middle uncleor aunt
Buaiaja:! 'Justtrash[it]l'
biak youngeruncle or aunt
Ibans use pronounsin daily speechin a way we might find vagueif we bunsu youngestuncleor aunt
don't know the languagewell andareconsequendynot too sureaboutthe aki' grandfather
context. In an exampleaboveI gavethe sentencelya mei duit nya' ka iya tn grandmother
'Shegavethe rnoneyto her.' Who is doing what will be clearif you have puyang great-grandfather/-mother
heardand rememberedwhat preceededthat: Bunsunurun ka pasar pagi jagang grandfather/-mother
great-great-
ndi lalu betemuenggauIndai Stepani.Iya meri... '[Your] youngestauntie ucu' grandchild
went down to town this moming andmet with Mother-of-Stephanie.She icit great-grandchild
gav...' In leisurely conversationsbarepronounsrnay take over for long wrt great-great-grandchild
stre0ches betweensentences,so it paysto have sharpearsfor who's who ipar brother-or sister-in-law
andwhat's what kaban blood kin
mcntua in-laws
How to addrrss people
Iban people addresi peopleby their personalnamesless often than If you're not related, addressa Frson accordingto how you ndlr -be
Americansdo, anddo not like to usepersonalnameswith peoplewho are related.If he's a generationolder than you, you might call him 'uncle.' If
close to them. In America, we wouldn't dreamof calting our parentsby two generationsolder,aki", lf thtef-puyang 'great-grandfather.'Don't be
their given names.In Sarawak,this feeling of taboo (yes, we too have shy.This is the polite thing to do. Everybodyin Sarawakis relatedto one
another,so peopleareusedto being called relative.

108 109

People will say to you, for example 'go ast your grandfather Duin...,
tanya-mdh aki' nuan Dui4' in order to clue you in as to how you should
address a particular person. Here, someone is telling you that you should
address the person named Duin as ati'.
Then there arc terms of addressthat are neither names, nicknames, titles, or
words of relationship. These are used between equals, or by an older
personto a younger
dom to a young man: 'lad'
'jang short for bujang 'bachelor', often facetiously to teenagers
wat to a youngerman,or man in the prime of life, esp.to a son or
son-in-law
wai friendly term of address, some dialects to men, others to
women
satnbi' polite addressbetween equals
unggal 'cousin'1' a friendly term of address: .fiend,' Ari ni nuan,
unggal?
igat boy of younger generation,masier'
endu' girl of youngergeneration'miss'
Pangan 'fiend' is not not used as term of address. Words of relationshin
and terms of address are not used, as in Mala% to substitute for personal
pronouns. You use the term to hail someone, and then continue talkine with
pronouns,as in English.
Oi! Wai! Kini nuan? 'Hey, Wai! Where are you going?,
Personal names: the commonest and politest way for an Iban to name
someoneelse is to call him or her by the name of their child. you may hear
a man being addressed zs Apai Nuing 'Father-of-Nuing,, or a woman as
Ini' Satnuel 'Grandmother-of-Samuel.' Given names of traditional style
among the Ibans are oI the forn X a.nakY 'So-and-sochild of So-and-so.'
Since here there is no such thing as a 'last name,' when you talk formally to
say,Muda' anak Tansi, you should call him 'Mr. Muda'.,
Being Polite
As in all langauges,how you say something has a lot to do with how people
feel you mean it. As a rule, you can never be too polite-not stuffy-polite,
but cheerfully courteous-when you speak with Ibans. Counesy is valued,
and it maintaids a good balance with frankness. To soften negations, one
often turns the word order around. For example-
Aku enggai nwkai diatu'. Aku kenyang.'l don't want roearnow. I'm
full.' :.
110
This is direct,andsoperhapslesslegant.But, you cansay-
Enggaiaku makaidiatu'. Kenyangaku.
Whichcouldbetranslated: 'Ild rathernoteatnow,I'm full.' Depending on
where you are, you might touch the -dishof food with your fingers,
symbolicallyto acceptttreir hospitaliry.e4
Thereareno deeplyIbanwordsfor'please'and'thankyou.' If you wantto
softena request,you canuser,ljiinfront of it. The old lban-EnglishPhrase
Bookgivesthefollowing example(the meaningis clearerif translatedinto
olderEnglish):
uji nuanbejako'luba, agi'. 'Try thouspeakmoreslowly.'
To make senseof this example,imaginethat a white person,who lmows
littte lban, is trying to talk with an Iban who is speakingfar too fast for
hirn. The white personis confusedand disoriented;but doesn't want to
conveytheimpression thathe'sannoyed.'Please,' in thesenseof arequest
for help, canbe expressedbytulong 'helpi
Tulongbul<apintu. 'Pleaseopenthe door.'
For 'thank you,' Ibansusethe Malay expressionteim0-k^sih, if they feel
their senseof gratitudehasto be madeexplicit. When peopleareon close
terms,they don't say 'please'or 'tha* you' at aU,but simply understand
the feelings involved. Iri fact, this way of dealing with things is not so
differcntftom whathappensin English-speaking countries.A simPlegrunted
'thanks'is a minimal verbalnodbetweenfriends. Big 'thank-you's'arefor
strangersand other people whose automatic assumptionof your
gratitudeyou can't count upon.
Likewise,thereis no word for 'hello' apartfrom rabi', which hasa slightly
formal feel, somethinglike 'hail!' and is often usedat the beginningof
letters.Thereareno wordsfor 'goodbye,''goodmoming,'goodnight'in
Iban. If someonecomesto seeyou at home,the first thing he may sayis
Nanw berita? 'What'stlle news?' Whenpeoplemeetoutsidethehousethe
greetingphraseis l(ini nuan? 'Wherc areyou going?.' When someonein
Sarawakasksyou for the first time, in English or in Iban, whereyou are
going, don't think that sheor he is being impertinent. If you don't want to
explain, you can always reply Kin 'that way,' or say somethingequally
innocuous.Whenpeopleare leaving,they usuallysaytarzi rzupok'We're
going.' This is often softenedto mupokkami, giving the feeling of 'Well,
94 see Richards'entry for the word prni'.
lll
 we re gong.
Courtesy,however,doesnot meanonedoesthe samething asonewould at
home.In America, if we 'have to go to the bathroom'95we excuse
ourselyesor usea euphemism.In Sarawak,if you are talking with people
andyou get up to leavewithout explanation,or with a vagueexplanation,
your companymay be worried that they unwittingly offendedyou. The
polite thing to do, whenyou getup to go to the toilet, is to sayAku k4'kctii,
'I'm goingto urinate,'or evenAku ka' bira''I'm goingto defecate.,Even
now in manypartsof Sarawak,peoplelive unavoidablycloseto the grimy
facts of nature,and denyingthem,as a sacrificeto delicacy,would make
life evenmoreuncomfortablethan it alreadyis.
By all meansbe sensitiveto the cluespeoplegive you. Ibanswill tolerate
and even enjoy an awful lot of silliness if inadvertant,or harm.less,or
amusing,but arenot, like everybody,very happywith rank insensitiviryor
maliciousness.
Dirty words
Ibanis well providedfor wordsfor bodyorgansandtheir naturalfunctions,
etc. But Ibans are not in the habit of continually describingthings they
don't like by referenceto them.. In fact, words in Iban suchas brtah
'penis' and tai' 'shit'have perfecdyrespectable usesas membersof
compounds:tai' lalat 'fly shit'-a little mole on the face, butoh dilah
'tongue'spenis'-the uvula.96 It is striking that Ibanson tie whole use
veryfew euphemisms. fdi'standsalone;it hasno 'nicer' synonyms.The
subheadinghere is a come-on;but I'm not going to take the opportunity
hereto teachyou any obscenities;The lessonis, rather,thatexpressionsof
direct dislike are much strongerin lban than in English. We may say .I
tat" to standin line at thepostoffice.' In Iban this would comeout directly
as yor'll leam them quackly enoughon your ow\. Ahr benci' bebarisdi
pos-opis.'Hats' is a very strongwordin Iban,andthesentenceabovewould
convey an unpleasantmeaningto the people amund you, for if you are
stayingin a small town, the peopleyou are standingin line with are your
companions.By implication, ydu hatethem,too.

Satu,dua,tiga......................
95 Europeansthink Americansare silly for saying 'bathroom,
whenthey meanloilet.,
96 A p"oll"l i" th" Lti n rtords peniculus .peic '
faeces 'feces'-any kind ol dregs"---arrd
literally'litdelEnis.'

1t2
Iban Literature
A short word about Iban literature. Iban is fortunate to possessan
extraordinarilyrich literature. Not only is Ibanliteratureremarkablefor its
variety andhigh quality, but thereis a whole lot of it, more, I think, than
somewritten traditionscanboast. In the pastall this literaturewasoral, it
existedthroughthe voice andperformanceandsurvivedandthrivedin the
memoriesof the people. In the past thirty years much of this older
literature has been written down, and Iban writers have begun to use
modemforms suchasthe novel.Regardingthetraditionalforms,Iban uses
both prose and verse. In prose there zrremany storis that deal with
everythingfrom thegodsandheroesto daily life andordinarypeople.There
arc seriousstoriesandfunny stories. Poetryis remarkablywell developed.
Iban is a language,unlike English,in which manythousandsof rhymesare
possible,andIban potsuserhymeto createstanzasthat aretighdy woven
andhighly musical. The rhythm oflban poetryis predominantly'iambic',
moving in pattemsof one unstressedandone stressedsyllable,but shows
metrical complexities that no one so far has begun to analyse.Rhyme,
rhythm, and rhetorical art appeareven in the little phnses with which
peoplepeppertheir speech.For example,if someoneleavesthehouseon a
trip to a party,andcomingbackgetscaughtin the rain andsplatteredwith
mud, shemay comment:MansangbakaKumang,pulai baknbangkai.'We
setout like a goddess,camebacklike a deadbody.'
Poetryandreligion are still closelyconnectedin the Iban tradition. Many
of the grcatestpoetswerclemembang'itual bards.' If you shouldwind up
in a paganarea,you may be askedto join in a rite. Don't feel odd, but
participate.The following is a generalall-purposeprayer,of thekind called
a biau, rcciled as the officiant waves a rooster over the heads of th
participants.
O-ha!O-ho!O-ha!
Aka ngangau,aku nisau,
Aku ngumbai,aku ngelambai.
Ngangoukn PAbra Aki,Ptara Ini.
Akuminta'tuah,minta'limpah,
Akuminm' raja,minta'anda,
Aku minta' bidik. minta' Insilc
Minta tulanS,minloPandanS.

I t3
 Awakka kani bulih ringgit, bulih duit, Bibliography
Bulih tajau, bulih sigiau,
Bulih senwnk, bulih menganak Thereis somuchwdtten on Sarawakandthe Ibansthat it makeslittc ttctttto
Aku minta' bulih padi, bulih puli. to give a full list of bookshere.Youwill quickly find the majorworksif you
Agiga akumintagerai,minta'nyamai checkin your library or in bookstoresin Kuching. Of the following, somc
Minto' gayu,minta guru! 97 are in print andreadily available. Thosebooks markedby an asterisk(t)
will be found onty in a largeresearchlibrary, or in the MuseumLibrary in
vocabulary:
Kuching.
anda 'prosperity'
1) Dictionarics
bidik 'lucky'
lnnsik 'sharp,keenof sense' Richards,Aathony:An lban-EnglishDictionary.PenerbitFajarBakti/
duit 'money' Oxford University Press,PetalingJaya,1988after reprinted.
gayu 'long-lived'
gerar
Sutlive, Vinson & Joanne:A Handy ReferenceDictionary of lban anl
'healthy'
Ezglisft. Tun JugahFoundation,Kuching, 1994.[Both lban-Englishand
nyamai 'pleasant, feelinggood'
English-Ibanl
SUrU 'wise'
kangau 'call or shout' Bruggeman,Rev.G.'.EnglishJban Vocabulary,SarawakLiterarySociety,
tdsau 'summon,invite' Kuching,1985.
ktmbai 'call'
2) Gramnar
lambai 'beckon'
lirnpah Iwith tutthl'overflowing' Adelaar, K. Alexander: 'Borneo as a Crossroadsfor Comparative
menganak ftom anak Linguistics' in The Austronesians:historical and Comparative
pa.di 'rice (in the field)' Perspectives.editedby PeterBellwood, JamesJ. Fox, and Farrell Tryon.
pandang 'shining, glory' Canberra,1995.
pCtara 'sod'
pinta' 'askfor' Asmah,Hj. Omar: The lban Languageof Sarawak: a Grommatical
puli 'glutinousrice' Description DewanBahasadanPustaka,Kuala Lumpur, 1981.
raja 'rich, riches' Atur Sepil Jaku lban. Day4k Cultural Foundation,Kuching, 1995.[guide
ringgit 'silverdollar' to the proposednew spelling systeml
segiau 'valuablejar,' or by metaphor,'head-trophy' *Dahl, Otto Chdstian Proto-Austronasian.2nd reviseded., Scandinavian
setqwak 'gong'.
tajau
Institute of Asian StudiesMonographSeries,No. 15. Curzon Press,
.'jar' London,1976.
tuah 'good fortune'
tulang 'bone,strength' 3) Phrasebook
*Borneo Literature Bureau: English-lban Phrase BooABup Jako
Inglis-Iban. BomeoLiteratureBureau(BLB), Kuching: 1965.
4) Schoolbooksin Iban
*Buma, Michael:Pelajar lban Bup Tiga. DewanBahasadan Pustaka,
Cawangan Sarawak,Kuching:1979.
97 Ri.h*d". t"ko Moin lban,p. 13-14.

4 115
Bahasalhan Tingkntan1. ['Iban LanguageLevel One'; thereis also BI
Tingkaton?andBI Tingkaton3. AbVeviatedBITI, 8172,B1T3.lKurikulum Appendix
BersepaduSekolahMenengah. Dewan Bahasadan PustakaCawangan
Ihble 1: Numerals
Sarawakuntuk JabatanPendidikanSarawak. Kuching, 192.
5) Also,here are alew booksof lban litcralure: zero kosong (lit. 'empty')
*A. Alli Majang:Sempama quarter, one quarter suku,sa;uku
Jakolban. BLB, 1968.
a half satingah
*Andria Ejau:Aji Bzlan. BLB, 1968. three quarters tiga suktr
* one satu
-: Dilah Tanah.BLB, 1964.[The first Iban novel.]
one of, 'a' sa- + numericalclassifer+ noun
Christy Duin Tanggi:.Sempatrwlban. Klasik PublishingHouse:Kuching, two dua
1998. thre ttga
four ernpot
JimrnyDonald:Keling of the RaisedWorld.PenerbitFajar Bakti. Petaling
five lima
Jaya:1991. [In English]
six erurn
JimrnyDonald:EnseraKeling Nyad.iSebungkok.
Klasik PublishingHouse, seven tujoh
Kuching:1989. Ubantext.l eight hpen
nlne semilan
JimmyDonald:Iz&, Main lban. Klasik PublishingHouse,Kuching, 1993.
ten sepuloh
JamesJemutMasing:TheComingof the Gods:An lbsn Invoc(noryChent. eleven sebelas
2 vol., Dept. of Anthropology,.A,ustralian
National University, Canberra: twelve &ubelns
t997. thirteen tigabelas
*Norman RunduPitok: SalumpongKarong Besi.BLB, 1966. fourteen empatbebs
fifteen lbtmbelas
*SatheqClifford: Apai Aloi GoesHunting and Other Stories.Persatuaan sixteen erwmbelas
KesusasteraanSarawak,Kuching: 1984. sevenrcen tujuhbelas
*Richards,Anthony: LekaMain lban. BLB, 1966. eighteen lapanbelas
nineteen semilanbelas
*Rubenstein,Carol( 1973):Poemsofindigenouspeoplesof Sarawak:some twenty dua puloh
ofthe songsand chantJ.SarawakMuseumJoumal,specialmonographno. twenty-one dua puloh satu
twenty-two dua puloh dua
thirty tiqa puloh
forty empat puloh
hundred, one hundred ratus, saratus
two hundred dua ratus
thousand, one thousand ribu, saribu
million, one million juta, sejuto

186,927 saratus-lapan-puloh-ernnrtbu, semilan-ratusdua- puloh tujoh

[with batu sasdkangivesthe speedof light]
Exampleof a telephonenumber: 082-735140 kosong,lapandua, tujuh,
tiga, linu, sqtu,empat.kosong.
lt6 117
For the ordinal number.addthe Drefix&e-to the cardinal. Clock time:
First kzsatu, ot bettet keterubah
. .k e d u a ' hour JArn
second minit
minute
ninety-eighth kesemilnn puloh lapan sikan
second
etc.
Pukulbempajam diatu'? 'What [lit: 'how many'] houris it?' Udahpukul
Fractions. 'One half' and 'one quarter' are satengah and sesuku
lima. 'Alieady five o'clock.' Pukul mexts'to strike' and the Iban
respectively.'Three-quarten'is tr'gaszta. All otherfractionsareexpressed
erpression,literally 'It's alreadystruckfive,'comesfrom the dayswhen,as
by theordinalform:
in bH Europe,peoplelistenedtq the town clock----orthe onestriking clock
'one third' sekeliga on theverandahof the longhouse.'Five-thirty' is pa&aI lina setingah,atl,d
'two thirds' dua ketiga 'quarterto six' is sesukusebedaupukul eru1m.
'five twelfths' lima keduabelas
In Malav. 'second'is sa'al, but I havenot heardthat word usedby lbans'
'ln a seiond!'is sekejapaja'litenlly: 'just aneyeblink.'
Table 2: Time
l.) Daysof theweek 3.) Daysbeforeandafter a day
Monday hari satu,,hari senin last year nun ryin tadi
Tiresday hari d)tn last month bulan tadi
Wednesday last week minggu ndt
hari tiga
Thursday hari empat day beforeYesterday ensanaa'
Friday hari lima yesterd&y kemari'
Saturday hari ensn, hari sabtu yesterdayevening lcmai tadigg llemai ketna.i'
Sunday hai minggu lastnight nelatu tadi
today sahai tu'
lemai tu'
2.) Timesof day98 tonight
tomorrow (moming) pagiln'ftk ' (sone di,'le/;ts)
sunrise nyang pagi tomorrowevening Icmai pagila'
early moming tumu pagi day after tomorrow lusa'
moming pa8, next week ntnggu baru, mintgu ti' kn darai
noon tlngah hari next month bulan baru, bulan ti' ka dntai
aftemoon(ratherlate) ngalih hari next year taun bdru
evemng lemai
dusk nyang lemai 4.) The months
night malam
midnight tangah nalam January bulnn satu
pastmidnight dini hai dalqm February bulan dua
well pastmidnight . dini hai mabu' March bulan tiga
dawn dini hari April bulan empat
May bulan litna
June bul,an enatn

98 Seealsothe detailedlisr in Richards'enuy for rtan. 99only if the day on which you're speakingis not yet dark.

118 119
 numeral jako'tiap
July bulan tujuh numericalclassifier pengerurp t6sq'
August bulan lapan object objdk
September bulan semilan paragraph paragraf
October bulan sepuloh particle partikel
November bulan sebelqs passive passif/runggu
December bulan duabelas personalpronoun gantinama diri'
phrase rambaijako'
Table 3: Weights and measunes plural berqban
predicate prddikat
inch tncl preposition jako'peninpat
foot kaki pronoun SAntmam4
yard ila (='ell') punctuation tanla baca
fathom (stretch of arms) d"po' question(interrogativesentence) ayqt lanyQ
mile bqtu reduplication jako' betandusebut
pound paun reportedspeech jako'tusoi
Chinesepound = 600 gr keti root ur4t
Chinesehundredweight= 60 kg pikul sentence aydt
sentenceof command ayat merintah
Ibans, as Malaysians generally, also commonly use the metric system. If simplesentence ayat tunggal
you're not sent tbree miles to town for one and a half katis of pork, you singular tunggal
may be sent five kilometers for a kilogram. There are many vatieties of style gaya jqko'
traditional measurs. See the entry on sukat 'r]tr,ast re' in Richards. subject subj6k
transitive transitif
Table 4: Grammatical Terms in English and lban verbjako' penS4wa'
word lekn jako'
active aktif/regas
affix penambah Table5 : Things to Eat
agent pengqwa'
auxiliary jakt' bantu I have insertedthis list ofeatablesfor the convenienceof the personwho is
complex sentence ayat turu' visiting Sarawak for the first time and feels lost and bewildered among tlte
conjunction penyambong variety ofstrange foods. It may take a while, but get yourselfusedto eating
declarative sentence 4!4t penerang rice. There is no better food for energy, and Sarawak rice, especially if
demonstmtive pronoun gsntinann penunjok home-grown, is extuemely fragrant and tasty, baka roti Peroncis bqru
direct speech jako' sebut nunsau.
dual duq iko'
l) Rice
exclamatory sentence ayat tekenyit
interrogative pronoun Santinama tqnya rice, cooked asi'
intransitive inffansitif rice, uncooked beras/berau(r.ce in the field is padi)
italics urup cundong
meamng reti
negative jako' sangkal 2) Meat(dagin) and fish
noun ,uuno
t2l
r20
 beef sapilcapi 6) DrTk
chicken manok ai' kopi
coffee
clams lukan, kerang Iangkau/arak
crab
ricespfuit
ketam tuak
ricewine
deer rusa' ai' tdh
Ea
duck itit ai' nati
watr, boiled
fish ikan; do2ens of kinds enjoyed. Ask ai' Putdh,ai' anut
watr,plain
aboutlocal delicacies. anv kind of drink madeout of eordial is- ci'+ nameof flavoring,
goat,or lamb kanbin
e.g,at oren
mouse-deer pehndok
pork babiljani
sagogrubs ulat tindoh
7) SeaseElugt
squid sunlonS chili cabi
wild boar babi utan/kampong garlic bawangputeh
pepper Iado
3) Eggg$"rl",ryD salt 84rQm
soysauce kicap
bambooshoot tubu'
coriander daun sup
fems Paku INDEX
lettuce daun salad
onion bawang abstractnouD$
spinachyleavesoff a bush cangkokmanis 35
fixing of meaning
address,termsof 110
4) Fruits r08f.
addressingpeople
coconut nyiur Adelaar,K. Alexander 8,9, l15
durian nan adjectives 25,3s
lemon I&inn 5l
asYert-root
lime limau 4l
mango,cultivated kuini , asam comparisonof
mango,wild compounded 37
I uah raba', buahmawang
mangosten nangSrs distributive 50
orange ordnlsun*ist followed by noun 37
PaPaya tanSan formation of 32,38
tangerine limau modiling noun concePtin verb 4l
of quantity 30
5) Confections 36
prdicate
cake ftzii, nany varieties;theIbanspecialty redupliceted 39
is kudhjah to verb ' &
bread(consideredascake) roti adverb,indicatingcopulativesentenc
adve$s 26,39,lU

t22 123
 comparison of 4l
compounded 37 ba 'in, at,on' 9l
of position and direction e4 o
BahasaMalaysia
of time, as tense-markers 7l Balineselanguage 32,54,63,tM
reduplicated 39 barang'any' 49
agent
BartholomewNasip 8
in passive sentences 68 be-, prefix 64
place of in 'soft' passive 70 and-ka 62
agnt and abstract nouns 34 inceptive tv
agreement, lack of 16,79 indicatingfrequentaction 58
'almost' 40 be-/me-,prefix 56
-an, suffix, used once only in Iban
Bedau/apin'not yet' 86
anang 'do not!' 78, 86 beke-,prefix 66
'and' 95 bekeranggak,etymology 66
Iban separatesinto two concepts 95 bete-,preflx 66
often omitted 95 biau, defined,andtext of 113
Andria Ejau 52,62,lt6 bitk, defined 18
animat and inanimate objects, grammatical distinction between 2g
bisf 76
apposition 104 asauxiliary andexistential 76
aram,exhortatoryparticle 89 negativeof 83
ari 'from' 9I body language 43,48
article
borrowings
expressedby relativeprcnoun 100 from Chinese 16,43
lackof 16f. from English 43,46
'as'37
from Malay 78,8s,105,111
aspect,defined '62
Brookes,their motto 76
progressive 69 Buma,Michael 56, l15
how markedin Iban 62,66 causahYes 62,65
assertions,generaland specific 2l in English 62
asterisk,significanceof 23 Christy Duin Tanggi 37, 116
attributiveposition 35 Chu Mee Fah 8
AugustineAnggat Ganjing 8, 14 class,assertionsconceming 28
Austronesian 9,38,45,54,106 classifiers,numerical 12
auxiliaries 78
indicatingtense seenumericalclassifiers
7l clauses 95
negative 77 coordinate 95
awak-ka,hortatory r03 relative 100
subjectsof optionally omitted 1@
124
125
 subordinate 95 adverbsof 94
clock time diri"self' 47
119
coinages in reportedspeech l0l
35
with beke- 66 Drahmanbin Haji Amit 8
colloquial speech 101,105,107 dual
comrnands 89 dulu' anddudi 7r ,74
introducedby awak-ka 89 o, standsfgr different sounds l0
eat,thing$to, tatle of wqrdsfor t', I
negative 86
comparativedegree 4l Eliot,T.S. 21
comparisons ellipsis 108
of size 43 emphasis rO4
45,46,74,90,
verbsfrom adj. usedin 25 by reduplicadon 38
compounds 37 by repeatingbisi' 96
conditions 103 sarcastrc 4E
conjunctions 8r, 90, 93 shift of 64,70
coordinating 96 enda' 'nof 83
subordinatlng 97 enda' tauenda' 'cannotnqt' 90
consonants 11 endang,adv.oftgn bettertranslatedby adj. 106
tableof t2 enggai,'don't want' 78,85
coniext 4,16,19,43,tM enggai-ka'l9st' 8l
andmoodof vb. 82 euggau'with,' 'and' 90
andrclationshipof tenses I) connectswords andPhrases 95
copulativesentences m,24,28 enti"if' 103
ndg6tiv6,word Oftlerin 83 etymology 3li
Dahl, Otto CMstian 38,45,115 fractions 118
daysbeforc andafter a day,tableof termr 119 French :6
dayi of the wk,tableof 118 'fri9nd,' not usedasterm of address 110
deka' 'will, shall' 73 ganelan JZ

deinonstratives,asdeterminer 19.23 gender 27,45

di'af 9L genitivpposition 26,36
di-, prefix 68 Germqn z0
ornissionof 68 g9stufB 44
omittedln 'soft' passive 70 glonal stop l l, 13,65
dietionaries,Ibsn l15 marking of l4
diedonaryforms l4 granmar, historical 31,54
diphthongs 10 gamr4ars,Iban & Austronesian(stuiies) 115
directionandposition gralnmaticaltermsin English andlban, tableof 120

126 r27
 rya 28,44,46
Greek, ancient 4, 58:
as'therg' 45
greetings 43,74,86, rt1
JamesMasing,Y.B. 36,66,68, 6
'has' 76
hb. abbreviation of hari bulan . 93 ,,:.: JanangEnsiring, 68
head, of phrase 15,30 : Javaneselanguage 32,45
Hirsch, Steven 8 JimbunTawai 8
i, alternative spelling of 10 JimmyDonald,YB. 7,46,tt6
.49 ka'for' ot
iban, as indefinte pronoun
Iban language ka 'to' 91
differs fiom English 28,4O,45,51,57; 70,75, ka' , shortfor deka' 74
87,93,1ll, trz , -ka, aftef ngarapandngerindu' 66
history of ,11 -ka, causativesuffix 62,65
nature of 15 ' addedfor elegance 64
soundsof 10. in passive 68
imperative 89 kada'it,isnlt,is it?' 88
inceptive 59 kati 'is it that?' 88..
indirect object .60 ke- andge-, prefixes 31
as subjectofpassive sentence '10. ke-, prefix
pronoun as .44 ge-, parallelto, functions 31 ..
signaledby rigagai ot asa separablePrefix a4
infl nitive, concept defi ned E2 in Malay
infix, defined 66 nasalized 55
inflection i l6 to makepassivgof intransitiveroot
lacK or 16,44,5l with di-, indicatingcontinuousaction 69
of verb 51 Kelsey,John 8
information, 'new' and 'old' 18 kemudi,etymologyof 1 1 {4
instrument or means by which , 90,
kena''to get'
intensifiers 104f. 'usedfor' , :94
interjectioirs 105,107 with dates r 93
intemal accusative 52 to makepassive 69,93
intonation, alterd to make question 87 kenyalang. etymologyof 34,54
45 :. 102
ko', verb 'said',
lya 28,44,46 laban'because' 8l
as'there' 45r laboh'fall'
JamesMasing, Y.B. 36,66,68,116 uansformations of 67
Janang Ensiring 68
Jah, affirmatorysuffix usedin MalaysianEnglish 105
Javaneselanguage ' .32,45

128 t29
lalu, conneats clauses vf personal It0
Latin 112 Naragansettlanguage tz
'lef 103 natrative,the vefb ko' r02
letters,standardphrasesin 42,90, 101;105,111 tr
nasal, .ansitional J J

'like' or 'as' without preposition 36 nasalization 24,34,53, s4f.,63,64

litetature,Iban 113 in 'irleBular'verbs 60
booksof ll6 tableof 53
Looi SiewTeip 8 neganves 83i
Malay 11 ?O 45 double,ascomftand 89
diffen from lban 6l sentences, avoiding confusion with 8?.
Sarawak 42 ngagai,prep. 91
Malayo-Polynesian o derivedfrom gagai 80
mark i8,72 ngambi'-ka'in oiderthat' 81 '
lack of 2l nge-,prefix fr)
md-, prdfix 24,56,63 asinfix with agentand abstractnouns 34
beforocausativeYetbs 63 beforeverb"roots in l-, rh-, and r-
id secondmdmberdf reduplicatedverb 72 pleo astic OJ

measurefilenqunits of 30, 120 ngena''with,using' 80,94

-mdh,afftrinative parrlcle 105 ngemng'about,concefnihg' 81
in comhands 89 NormdnRunduPitok 106,116
mehyanabanalysis 24 nounor verb,difficultyof distinguishing )a
mtaphor 91,93 nounphrases 2A
middle voic 58,59,76 boundary 19
modals 71 nouns 25,26
modification 15,22,35. agentand abstract 34
months,table t19 asverb-root 51 - '
mood 82, 103 compounded
Mu an,Sidi andHeidi 8 counhble anduncountable 28
munyi 'like, as,asif' 81 deteirhinedandundeErmined 17,23i28
Murut languagg 63 distinguishinggenderof 27
'must'expressed by doublenegative 63 formationof' '34
nadai 'hashot' 78,83 plus noun or adjectivein the genitiveposition 36'
changesplaceswith enda' 84 reduplicated 3E
hames to verb 64
idiom in askingsomeohe's 88 'now' 48
lessusedin addtess 108 numbers 27

130 l3t
numerals,tableof 117 pepet t0
numericalclassifiers 16:20,I7',28f.'
'perhapsthdybe' 40
in English 28
'person' 27
plusbe- 57 personificadon 46, 85
tablel ,o
phrase 95
table,supplementary 30
phrasebook, Iban 115
oya' 19,47 .. r .. .104
pia' 'thus,so'
as'it' 46
Pinker,Stephen,The LanguageInstinct ,15
nyadi'then,sor 81
place-nanies,formationof 106
nyauandjadi/nyadi 'to become'/'isbeCome' . .77
'please' : '. 89,110
'of' 26
plural 27,38.,
'one' asan indefinitepronoun,how Iban expresses 49.'i poetry 113
onomatopo9la' 32,3i 'rl1O
politeness
'or' 96 , ..
Polynesianlanguage 38,45.
oral tradifion 4, 113
possession, thepossessive position 26,36,44 :
orang'humanbeing 49. - .!
possibility,necessity 77till3.
ordinalnumbers 3 3 ,u 8 . .
Postill,John 8,,
Orwell, George 22 prayer 113
'ought' , 78.,
parameters , ., seealsosampiandbiau . , i.
. 6, 15f.,r03 . . 20,36
prdicate
paflativegenitive 29' prenx 31,50. .
participle . .59
'swallowed'
defined 79
force of in Iban
in partial reduplication , ,? e
79 42.
particles vowels droppingout of
104f.
partsof speech prepositions 15;25'80,90
25f. 91
pasar,defined combinationsof
82 92
passivevoice logical,etc.
.67 9l
in questions of spaceandinotion
88 72,
progressive action.indicating
in reladveclauses 100 pronouns 44'
in vb. + vb. sentences 79
passivevoice,soft all pronouns'polite 50
70. 19.
pe-, prefix asdeterminer
34
defined '44
with sa- 43
demonstrative 47
pem-, altemateform of pe- 35
pen,particle dual 45
106 .48
indefihite

r33
 interrogative 88 rindu"love'
iya 44,45,46 with andwithout prep.ka 92
omissionof 108 roots,verb 32,50,5t,53,60
personal 44 intransitive 52
reflexive 47 makeboth trarsitive andintransitive 58
relative 20, 100 , requidngverbal complement 52
relative,omissionof l0l txansitive 51
trouble with referentsto in colloquial speech, 108 usedasverb in root form 55
pronunciation, colloquialrapid 14,38 ruai, defined 67
pronunciation,regional 11 s, pronunciationof at the endsof words 13
proverbi4lphrases I l3 sa-,prefix 20,24, 30, 33, 41,42, 50,72
pua',d9fined 58 plusadj. 43
quantiflers,beforenouns 27 sama,asadverb 41
questionwords,table 88 sampi,prayers 42
quesuons 87 Sanskrit 32,34,58
markedby pa4icle .106 Sather,Clifford 73, 116
quotation,direct andindirect 101 schoolbooks, Iban 115
r se-,for sa- 42
andl, insertionof afler prefix 56 ,, se,titular particle 106
convertedto, or changingplaceswith I l3 Sebuyaudialect 11,13,14,45,63
differentpronunciationsof l3 semanttcs 24
r9ality or uffoallty, degreeof 78 sempamajako' 37, l0l
redundancy,in language,defined 75, semua''all', analysis 42
reduplication 16,32, 33,37f. sentences,simpleandcomPlex 96
of adj. for progressingintensity 4l Sim KwangYang 8
partial 14,39f. , . singularandplural 26,27
relationship,wordsof 109 'some' 47
relativeclauses 100 'sophisticated' expression 35
forceof expressed by n./adj.+ vb. 101 spelling 6, ro,\2,14
useofpassivein 69 subject 20
dummy '17
repprtd speech 101
changeof pronounsin 101 in vb. + vb. sentences 79
RhadClanguage(Vietnam) 106 subjunctive, in English 103
rhymes.greatnumbersof in lban 113 suffix 50
Richards,Anthony rr4, 116 -ka 62
An lban-EnglishDictionary 6,38,115; superlativedegree 4l

134
 syllables,final 11 trace zl
syllogism 24 transformations 62
taboos 108,111 activeverb to causativeverb 65
Tagalog 56,63 examplesof with laboh 'fall' 67
tak, usedbeforeword emphasized 105 transitiveto intransitive &
tanju', defined 67 tu'
tauka'or' 81 after personalpronouns 48
te-, prenx 61,66 as 'it' 46
tense 16,70 tu' andnya'
further examplesof 75 asdemonstrativeadj. 47
future 73 tuat 96
future negative,with enggai 85 tusu,etymologyof
future negative,with inanimateobjects 86 ukai 84,87
negativewords of 71 doesnot negateverbs 85
obliquely indicated 83 idiomatic phraseswith 85
pastprogressive 74 Universiti MalaysiaSarawak(UNIMAS) 7
Past,simple 72 utai 'thing' 46,47
perfect 62,74 as lit' 46
perfect,createdby nadai .84 verb plus verb 78
presenr 71 asorigin of lban prepositions 80
relationshipsof in context 75 in reportedspeech lo2
tensewords,ornissionof sentences,analysis 78
terubah'at first' 33,61 to describemanner 79
'than' 41 to expresspupose 80
'that', no Iban word for 101 verbal sentences,Iban preferencefor 24
ti' andke, relativepronouns 69, 100 verbs 25, 50t.
usedwith force of article 100 'irregular' 50,59
time active 52
plock, how specified 119 actiYetransitive 53
perceptionof 77 asroun 82
Jlban
words of 83 asking,ordering,leaming,teaching,knowing, &c. 78
inegative
wordsto specify 71 causative 62,65
timesof day,tableof wordsfor 118 compounded 37
'to be' 16,20,40,76 explainingan adj. 8l
ton of voice 89 followed by ka 'for' 56
'too' 42 form ofaftermodal 78

136 t37
 in be-/me-taking objects 59
intransitive 55,66
intransitiye,reduplicated 38
reduplicated,asadverb ,lo, 80
requiring verbalcomplement 5J 1q
taking two objects 55
transformationsof 62
transitive,reduplicated 38
with force of adj. 65
Victoria Encharang 8
vowel harmony 42
vowels 10
unstessed t4
weightsandmeasures,tableof t20
'with' seduaias 45
word order 6,15,22,23,26,35,87
,
104
deviationsfrom standard to4
invertedto indicatepoliteness 110
words,dtty 47, tt2
'yes' 87
'you' al\
in different dialects 45

138