Agency in formal nominalizations
In formal Indonesian, verbs are often turned into nouns (nominalization) to focus on the process or result rather than who did it. This 'hides' the agency, making the text sound objective, academic, or bureaucratic.
How It Works
At an advanced level, nominalization is a tool for information packaging and agency blurring (pengaburan agen). By shifting from a verbal style to a nominal style, you move from describing 'who does what' to 'what happens.'
1. Morphological Triggers:
- peN-...-an: Usually derived from meN- (active) verbs. It focuses on the process. (e.g., menulis → penulisan / the writing process).
- per-...-an: Usually derived from ber- verbs. It focuses on the event, result, or state. (e.g., berselisih → perselisihan / a dispute).
- ke-...-an: Forms abstract nouns from adjectives or verbs. (e.g., adil → keadilan / justice).
- -nya: Can nominalize an entire clause (e.g., Naiknya harga / The rising of prices).
2. Strategic Function:
In legal or political contexts, this is used to avoid direct blame. Instead of saying 'The police killed the protesters,' a formal report might say 'The occurrence of fatalities during the handling of the protest...' (Terjadinya korban jiwa dalam penanganan demonstrasi...). The actors (police) are grammatically erased from the subject position.
Examples (4)
- Peningkatan suhu global mengakibatkan pencairan es di kutub.
The increase in global temperature resulted in the melting of polar ice.
Word by Word: Increase temperature global result-in melting ice at pole.
Both 'peningkatan' (increase) and 'pencairan' (melting) are nominalized processes. The specific actors causing the increase are hidden to focus on scientific causality.
- Pelaksanaan kebijakan tersebut masih memerlukan pengkajian lebih mendalam.
The implementation of said policy still requires more in-depth study.
Word by Word: Implementation policy that still require study more deep.
Pelaksanaan (implementation) and pengkajian (study) foreground processes without naming the people responsible. The sentence says more study is needed; it does not say that anybody failed to implement the policy.
- Keberangkatan delegasi ditunda karena adanya kendala teknis.
The departure of the delegation was postponed due to the existence of technical constraints.
Word by Word: Departure delegation passive-postpone because existence-of constraint technical.
'Keberangkatan' (departure) turns the act of leaving into a noun. The use of 'adanya' (the existence of) further abstracts the cause of the delay.
- Penulisan laporan ini memakan waktu dua bulan.
The writing of this report took two months.
Word by Word: Writing report this take time two month.
'Penulisan' focuses on the process of writing as a concept, rather than focusing on the person who wrote it.
Common Mistakes
Using dense nominalization in casual conversation.
Keberangkatan saya akan terjadi pada jam lima.Saya berangkat jam lima.Dense chains of abstract nouns can sound bureaucratic in casual conversation. Saya berangkat jam lima states the plan directly. Nominalization itself is not confined to formal writing; ordinary nouns such as pelajaran also occur in everyday speech.
Choosing the process noun when you mean the lesson or subject matter.
Pembelajaran itu sangat sulit.Pelajaran itu sangat sulit.Pembelajaran refers to the teaching or learning process, whereas pelajaran can name a lesson or subject. Both sentences can be grammatical, but they describe different things as difficult. Choose pelajaran for the lesson itself.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To analyze hidden agency in formal nominalizations, a learner must first understand the morphological tools used to create process nouns (peN-...-an). They also need to understand the syntactic strategy of omitting actors (agentless passives) and the stylistic difference between verbal and nominal registers in Indonesian, as these are the mechanisms used to background responsibility in formal prose.
- Dense process nominalization
Understanding how verbs are transformed into complex process nouns is essential for identifying the underlying actions in dense nominalized text.
Level 5 - Passive with omitted actor
The concept of backgrounding or omitting the actor is first introduced in passive constructions, which serves as a functional precursor to hidden agency in nominalizations.
Level 3 - Choosing nominal or verbal clauses
Learners must be able to distinguish between information presented through actions (verbs) versus entities (nouns) to analyze how agency is obscured.
Level 5
Related Patterns
- peN-...-anProcess Nouns with PeN-...-an
This is the primary morphological tool used to create process-oriented nominalizations from active verbs.
Level 3 - per-...-an (peristiwa)Events and Processes with Per-...-an
Used to nominalize stative or intransitive verbs, focusing on the result or the event itself.
Level 4 - ke-...-an (keadaan)Abstract States with Ke-...-an
Used to create abstract nouns from adjectives, often serving as the subject in formal 'hidden agency' sentences.
Level 3 - -nya (rujukan situasi)-Nya Referring to a Situation
A modern way to nominalize an entire phrase or clause to serve as a single grammatical unit.
Level 3
Practice Agency in formal nominalizations in Bubblegum
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