1 Minangkabau -i: A locative, transitivizing, iterative, adversative suffix Daniel Brodkin & Catherine Fortin * Abstract. Minangkabau, a Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) language of Sumatra, displays a small but complicated system of verbal morphology resembling those of its near, better-described relatives Indonesian and Malay. In these languages, the verbal morphemes are multifunctional, and fully characterizing their meanings and uses has proven challenging. We present our findings on -i, which previous literature frequently characterizes as a type of applicative. We identify four distinct productive functions of -i, not all applicative: adding a locative object, transitivizing non-verbal roots, adding iterative/intensive aspects, and imputing adversative readings. Adversative -i has not previously been identified in the literature, and is unattested in Indonesian. Keywords. Minangkabau; Indonesian; Malay; Austronesian; morphology; applicative; valency; locative; adversative 1. Introduction. Austronesian languages are well-known for having complex systems of voice- and valency- adjusting verbal morphology. Many of the most conservative languages in the family feature “symmetrical” voice systems, where verbs may agree with agents, patients, locatives, and benefactors- and consequently, many of these languages must feature a complex set of valency-increasing morphology to license these additional verbal arguments. Indonesian and Malay, two closely-related languages, are well-known for having compact, yet complicated verbal systems of this type. Within the Malayic subfamily, most languages contain a set of voice-adjusting prefixes, coupled with a smaller group of valency- adjusting suffixes. Together, these affixes combine in intricate ways to form a morphologically complex verbal system similar to that described above. Typically, these voice systems feature high degrees of morphological multifunctionality, which has complicated the task of identifying discrete functions for individual affixes. Certain combinations of prefix and suffix appear to function as circumfixes, while others appear to be genuinely morphologically complex. Moreover, several of these voice-valency morphemes exhibit complex relationships with aspect as well--which Malayic languages do not otherwise mark morphologically--blurring the boundaries of their roles and further evidencing high degrees of polysemy. The individual functions of these affixes, then, are notoriously hard to tease apart, and this task has proven challenging to researchers for decades. Minangkabau, another Malayic language spoken in West Sumatra, shows much of the same complexity within its verbal system. Inheriting the same compact system of voice-valency marking, this language displays a high degree of structural similarity with Indonesian and Malay- and it shares many of the same puzzles within its verbal system. Yet the complexity of this language’s verbal morphology is compounded by the problem of under -documentation: while the * We are grateful to Alief Moulana and the participants of LING 280 (Field Methods) in Spring 2016 at Carleton College, especially Joyce Domogalla. We also thank the audience at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America in Austin for their comments, questions, and discussion, especially Bradley McDonough, Stanley Dubinsky, Paul Kroeger, Jason Overfelt, Uri Tadmor, and Jozina Vander Klok. All errors are our responsibility. Authors: Daniel Brodkin, Carleton College (brodkind@carleton.edu) & Catherine Fortin, Carleton College (cfortin@carleton.edu). 2017. Proc Ling Soc Amer 2, 42:1-12. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v2i0.4098.