5.6.1. Evidentiality
The Japanese language forces users to draw clear lines between the self and others. It does so by making it diffi cult or awkward to express human sensa- tions, feelings, desires, or mental activities when the speaker does not have
direct access to the source, i.e. other than oneself. This restriction is subsumed
under the rubric of evidentiality (or accessibility of information) (e.g. Chafe and Nichols 1986, Kamio 1997, Hasegawa and Hirose 2005). The direct representation of such subjective experiences (e.g. represented consciousness) other than the speaker’s own yields what Banfi eld (1982) refers to as an
unspeakable sentence – i.e. one which cannot occur naturally in spoken
language.
The predicates that are subject to this constraint are sometimes called
psych predicates (see Kuroda 1973, Shibatani 1990: 383–5). They can be used
only to describe the speaking self, and no others. For example, in (a), samui can take watashi as subject, but not haha, as in (b). When the subject is not the speaker, some evidential expression is necessary, as in (c).
year, wars and hostilities were suspended by a sacred truce, and all Greeks – Spartans and Athenians, Corinthians and Argives, Macedo- nians and Cretans – gathered in recognition of their common humanity. This impulse toward peace – albeit limited to a few days each year – was the fi rst in the history of an organized, regular, and international scale. Thus, the ancient festivals at Nemea, Olympia, Delphi, and Isthmia are the direct ancestors of today’s Olympic games as well as of the United Nations.
The Society for the Revival for the Nemean Games (which now has more than 1,800 members from around the world) was founded in the belief that there is today scope and perhaps even the need for the average person – regardless of ethnicity, language, religion, gender, age, or athletic ability – to participate in an international athletic festival. And so it happened in 1996. More than 1,300 people from 45 different countries, ranging in age from 10 to 93, added their footprints to those of ages long ago while more than 8,000 spectators looked on.
No records were kept and no medals were awarded. Families with picnics on the slopes of the stadium were as much a part of the festival as the runners. Races were organized by gender and age, and were interspersed with music and dances. . . . (Adapted from the Nemea Games brochure, http://nemeacenter.berkeley.edu/projects/stadium/ revival-nemean-games [January 13, 2011])
a. 私は寒い。 b. #母は寒い。
c. 母は［寒がっている／寒そうだ］。
This restriction on psych predicates and their potential subjects is so infl exible that when the predicate is polysemous, the function of the subject necessarily shifts to conform to this restriction. In (d), kanashii indicates that the subject is sad (subject = experiencer). In (e), by contrast, the mother is the stimulus/ source that causes the speaker’s sad feeling, ‘Mother makes me sad’, not ‘Mother feels sad’, which violates the constraint.
d. 私は悲しい。 I feel sad.
e. 母は悲しい。 Mother makes me sad.
Expressions of desire also belong to the category of psych predicates. The construction Verb + -tai can be used with a fi rst-person subject, e.g. (f ), but not with other subjects, e.g. (g). As with the expressions of sensation, an evidential expression is necessary for a third-person subject, e.g. (h).
f. 私はコーヒーを飲みたい。
g. #母はコーヒーを飲みたい。
h. 母はコーヒーを［飲みたがっている／飲みたそうだ］。
Omou is another type of psych predicate, and, as such, it cannot be used to
describe a third person’s mental state (see Nakau 1994).
i. 私は、母は病気だと思う。
j. 母は病気だと思う。
k. 母は(自分は）病気だと思っている。
In (i), the main-clause subject, watashi, of which omou is predicative, is overtly present. In ( j), by contrast, watashi is the covert subject, and it might seem that haha could be taken as the overtly-present potential subject of omou. However, this construal is impossible: the subject of omou must still be
watashi. For a third-person subject, the auxiliary verb phrase -te iru must
be added to omou, as in (k).10
10 This constraint is due to the fact that omou is a modality expression. Nakau (1994: 46) defi nes
modality as the speaker’s mental attitude toward the proposition or the speech act at the time
of the utterance, conceived as the speaker’s instantaneous present. As a modality expression, omou refers to the instantaneous present. Of all the mental attitudes that manifest themselves
simultaneously with the time of speech, it is only his/her own mental attitude that the speaker can have accessible to him/her (p. 51). Therefore, the use of omou with a third-person subject results in anomaly. Omotte iru, on the other hand, is an expression for the continuous present and can be used to describe the mental activity of a third person as well as the speaker.
In ordinary conversation, others’ mental states are not directly accessible to the speaker. This constraint is not on the potential grammatical subject
per se, but, rather, on accessibility to information. So, you would not hear
someone say Akiko wa byDki da to omotta 明子は病気だと思った to mean ‘Akiko thought she was ill’. In the context of a novel, on the other hand, the author can freely use psych predicates with third-person subjects because s/he, as creator, can be omniscient, and therefore has direct access to a character’s mental state. In fact, expressions such as (l) are common in narrative fi ction.
l. 明子は、その時、母は病気だと思った。
EXERCISE 5.15
Paying attention to the evidential expression, translate the following.
この不況の折、ただでさえ子持ちの女性の就職は見通しが暗いの に、せっかく企業から内定を決めてもらっても、保育園が決まるま で入社を待って欲しいなどと要望すれば、採用見送りを検討されて しまうだろう。(『朝日新聞』1994年4月20日）
5.6.2. Egocentricity
The linguistic phenomenon of evidentiality refl ects a strong awareness of the self in Japanese language usage, however primordial and simplistic such a notion may be. In order to use the language appropriately, the speaker needs to be aware of the distinction between self and all others. This fact runs counter to many researchers in anthropology, linguistics, and sociology who contend that the Japanese people lack the concept of the individualistic self akin to the Western notion of self. Some even insist that Japan is a “selfl ess” society. Actual observation of Japanese society clearly demonstrates these notions to be myths.
Quite the contrary, Japanese is a highly egocentric language, in which the presence of “I” as the speaker is so obvious as not to have to be expressed overtly (Hirose and Hasegawa 2010: 43). Consider the following examples with verbs of perception. If watashi (ni) wa is inserted into (b, d, f ), for example, the sentences will convey that, although other people might disagree,
to me, something is visible/audible/odoriferous.
a. I (can) see a bus over there. b. 向こうにバスが見える。
c. I heard a strange noise somewhere in the house. d. 家のどこかで変な物音が聞こえた。
e. I could smell (something) burning.
f. 何かが焦げるにおいがした。
A similar egocentricity is commonly observed in diary English. The follow- ing examples are taken from Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of
Reason (pp. 56–68), a novel in diary format.
g. When ( ) fi nally arrived at Guildhall, Mark was pacing up and down outside in black tie and big overcoat.
ギルドホールにようやく到着したら、マークが黒ネクタイに大きなオ ーバーを着て外を行ったり来たりしていた。
h. After ( ) had explained it a few more times Charlie suddenly saw the light. もう二三回説明したら、チャーリーは急に納得したようだ。
i. Mark has gone off to his fl at to change before work so ( ) can have little cigarette and develop inner growth . . .
マークは仕事前に着替えるためアパートに帰った。だから、少しタバ コを吸って、心を高めることができる。
The missing subjects, indicated by the empty parentheses, all refer to the writer of the diary. This style resembles ordinary, non-diary, writing in Japanese. Therefore, when the subject is unclear in the Japanese sentence, it might be helpful to invoke how diaries are phrased in English.
EXERCISE 5.16
Recover the covert arguments, and translate the sentences into English.
1. 部屋にいると、ガラスの壊れる音がした。 2. トンネルを抜けると、広々とした茶畑が見えた。 3. 時間があれば、手伝って欲しいのですが。 4. そのニュースを聞いた時、とても悲しくなった。 5. そのとき、何かが足に触れるのを感じた。 EXERCISE 5.17
Translate the following passage, recovering the missing arguments.
家庭には，保護者自身が子どもとの触れ合いの場を積極的に持ち、 子どもを理解しようと努めることを望みたい。ボランティア活動や 地域における行事等に親子で参加する、家族で一緒に会話をしなが
EXERCISE 5.18
Identify the referents of the pronouns and demonstratives and translate the following passage into Japanese.
A group of little boys and girls, all wearing the same-color uniforms, assembled in front of a Catholic school is what I imagine when think- ing about school uniforms. This is probably what most people imagine, too. School uniforms have been associated with students attending European and private schools. Such pictures of students dressed in school uniforms may have contributed to stereotyping and a negative attitude toward school-enforcement of uniform policies. They are dis- played as robots without the ability to express themselves in a society that says you must express yourself and be an individual at all costs. The problem is that the cost of expressing yourself and being an indi- vidual is high in some cases. In Detroit, a 15-year-old boy was killed for his $86 basketball shoes. I believe that price is too high. It would be better to be laughed at and teased about wearing a nerdy uniform than to be shot by some gang member that doesn’t like the color of the pants I’m wearing. (Adapted from “School Uniforms,” 123HelpMe.com)