Sampai Di Vs Sampai Ke: Accomplishment or Achievement Verb?

The Malay corpus shows that the verb ‘sampai’ (arrive) can occur with the preposition ‘ke-’ as in ‘Sharifah Aini mahu segera sampai ke kampung itu’ (Sharifah Aini want to arrive at the village immediately). ‘Sampai’ can also occur with the preposition ‘di’- as in ‘Nisa terbangun ketika sampai di Tanjung Malim.’ (Nisa awoke when she arrived at Tanjung Malim). Based on data in the corpus, it is discovered that ‘sampai’ occurs in two locative preposition patterns which are locative direction preposition (ke) and locative position preposition (di). ‘Sampai-ke’ occurs as an accomplishment (which has the features + duration and + telic), meanwhile ‘sampai- di’ occurs as an achievement (which focuses on telicity). Accordingly, this paper will examine the emergence of locative preposition patterns with ‘sampai’. It will determine whether the verb ‘sampai’ is classified as an achievement verb or an accomplishment verb. Data is amassed from two novels, titled Buih and Noni. Data from both novels were electronically recorded and inputted into the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) Malay corpus data base. The analysis will be based on the aspectual features of the verb focusing on the Aktionsart’s representation decomposition classes (Van Valin, 1997, 2005). This paper will further explain the situation that ‘sampai di-’ and ‘sampai ke-’ can occur in sentences. It also concludes that ‘sampai’ should occur with the locative preposition ‘di’, not with the preposition ‘ke’ based on the semantics properties of the verb ‘sampai’ as an achievement.