bukan semata-mata ... melainkan ...
Not Merely but Rather
Used in formal and academic Indonesian to move beyond a superficial explanation (X) to a more profound or accurate one (Y).
How It Works
This Level 5 pattern is a staple of high-level Indonesian discourse, such as legal texts, academic journals, and political speeches. It refines the scope of a subject by rejecting a narrow interpretation in favor of a broader one.
1. Morphological Rules:
For ordinary negation, word class is a useful starting point. Corrective contrast also affects the choice:
- Use bukan semata-mata when negating nouns, pronouns, noun phrases, or prepositional phrases. Per the TBBBI standard, use bukan even for clauses if they are nominalized (e.g., bukan bahwa...).
- Use tidak semata-mata for ordinary negation of a verbal or adjectival predicate. Bukan can also reject a contrasted description, including a verbal or adjectival one; it is not prohibited solely by the following word class.
2. Syntactic Requirement:
In formal Indonesian (Bahasa Baku), the correlative conjunction must match the negator:
- bukan ... melainkan is the standard corrective pair after bukan, including when a description is contrasted.
- tidak ... tetapi is the standard contrastive pair after ordinary verbal or adjectival negation with tidak.
3. Stylistic Variation:
For emphasis, semata-mata can be placed after the negated element (e.g., bukan karena uang semata-mata).
4. Nuance:
Unlike bukan hanya... melainkan juga (not only... but also), which is additive, bukan semata-mata is restrictive. It suggests that focusing only on X is an incomplete view. Note that in this restrictive pattern, the word juga is typically omitted to maintain the corrective sense rather than adding a second element.
Examples (3)
- Pendidikan bukan semata-mata soal ijazah, melainkan proses pendewasaan berpikir.
Education is not merely a matter of diplomas, but rather a process of maturing one's thinking.
Word by Word: Education not merely-merely matter diploma, but-rather process maturing thinking.
Here, 'bukan' is used because it negates the noun phrase 'soal ijazah'. It refines the definition of education.
- Keberhasilan proyek ini tidak semata-mata bergantung pada anggaran, tetapi pada kerja sama tim.
The success of this project does not merely depend on the budget, but on teamwork.
Word by Word: Success project this not merely-merely depend on budget, but on work same team.
In this case, 'tidak' is used because it negates the verb 'bergantung'. Note that 'tidak' is paired with 'tetapi' rather than 'melainkan' to maintain formal grammatical consistency.
- Kritik tersebut bukan semata-mata untuk menjatuhkan, melainkan untuk membangun kualitas karya.
The criticism was not merely to bring someone down, but rather to build the quality of the work.
Word by Word: Criticism that not merely-merely for to-bring-down, but-rather for to-build quality work.
This example uses 'bukan' to negate the prepositional phrase 'untuk menjatuhkan'. In formal Indonesian, 'bukan' is the standard negator for prepositional phrases.
Common Mistakes
Thinking melainkan cannot follow tidak.
Hal itu tidak semata-mata terjadi karena kebetulan melainkan karena kerja keras.Hal itu tidak semata-mata terjadi karena kebetulan tetapi karena kerja keras.Both sentences are good. Melainkan can follow tidak or bukan when the second part corrects the first. Tetapi also works and is a little more neutral.
Ignoring the distinction between ordinary predicate negation and corrective contrast.
Hal itu bukan semata-mata terjadi karena kebetulan.Hal itu tidak semata-mata terjadi karena kebetulan.Tidak semata-mata terjadi is an ordinary way to deny that an event happened solely by chance. Bukan semata-mata terjadi can also contrast that explanation with another one understood or supplied in context. The original is not automatically ungrammatical just because terjadi is a verb.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand 'bukan semata-mata ... melainkan ...', a learner must first be comfortable with the basic Indonesian corrective frame 'bukan ... tetapi ...'. This advanced pattern replaces 'bukan' with a more specific rejection of a narrow scope ('not merely') and replaces the contrastive 'tetapi' with the more formal 'melainkan' to introduce a broader or more significant explanation.
- bukan ... tetapi ...Not X but Y
This is the basic corrective frame ('not X but Y') upon which the more formal and nuanced 'bukan semata-mata ... melainkan ...' is built.
Level 3 - hanyaOnly with Hanya
Understanding 'hanya' (only/merely) is essential to grasp the meaning of 'semata-mata', which functions as a formal synonym in this construction.
Level 1
Related Patterns
- bukan hanya ... melainkan juga ...Formal Not Only but Also
An additive pattern ('not only... but also') that is often confused with the corrective 'semata-mata' pattern.
Level 4 - tidakNegating Verbs and Adjectives with Tidak
The fundamental rule for negating verbs and adjectives, which applies to 'tidak semata-mata'.
Level 1 - bukanNegating Nouns with Bukan
The fundamental rule for negating nouns, which applies to 'bukan semata-mata'.
Level 1
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice bukan semata-mata ... melainkan ... in Bubblegum
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