Dynamic ter- in Malay (Bahasa Melayu) Studies in Language 27:2 (2003), 287–322. issn 0378–4177 / e-issn 1569–9978© John Benjamins Publishing Company A study in grammatical polysemy Cliff Goddard University of New England, Australia This paper undertakes a fine-grained semantic analysis of some of the multi- ple uses of the polyfunctional verbal prefix ter- in Malay (Bahasa Melayu), the national language of Malaysia. The analysis is conducted within the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka, supported by examples drawn from a large corpus of naturally occuring Malay texts. The main goals are to accurately describe the full range of meanings, and to decide to what extent apparent differences are contextu- ally-induced as opposed to being semantically encoded. In the end, seven distinct but interrelated lexico-semantic schemas are identified, constituting a network of grammatical polysemy. Introduction 1 This paper examines some of the multiple uses and meanings of the poly- functional verbal prefix ter- in Malay (Bahasa Melayu), the national language of Malaysia, using the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework originat- ed by Anna Wierzbicka (1972, 1996). The polyfunctionality of ter-. Grammars and language textbooks generally recognise that ter- has multiple functions, usually adopting a three-way division — accidental, stative, and abilitative — which goes back to Winstedt (1927). The same breakdown is routinely extended to Bahasa Indonesia [Note 2 ]. The adequacy of the conventional classification is challenged by the fact that the ‘accidental’ category is semantically heterogeneous. As Sneddon (1996) states, writing in relation to Bahasa Indonesia: the term ‘accidental’ is a cover term for a variety of uncontrolled actions and it is not appropriate in all cases; depending on the particular verb and the