A topic of some interest in the literature on Malay and Indonesian and closely
related languages is the nature of the expression that denotes reflexivity. With
that debate as a backdrop, this paper addresses the question of whether or not
Madurese, one of the closely related languages, contains a form that can unambiguously
be identified as a reflexive anaphor. Examination of the grammatical properties
of the most likely candidate, aba'na dibi', indicates that, unsurprisingly,
this form shares many properties with reflexive-like forms in Indonesian and Malay.
And like recent analyses of those Indonesian/Malay forms, I conclude that reflexivity
is only one of a number of possible meanings expressed by the Madurese form and
that it is not a true reflexive anaphor.