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Learning Language Through Literature1

第4章の補助教材一覧

ことば・文化ノート4

 

章 <ことば・文化ノート>

複合動詞(ふくごうどうし) Compound Verbs

(The article 複合動詞 is written by Sayaka Abe)

Learning how words are structured can help us enrich our vocabulary. While some words are best learned as a whole or through context, some consist of smaller, meaningful parts that may help us understand their meanings. Compounding, one of the most common word-formation processes, takes two or more independent words and forms compounds [ e.g., in English, steamboat (steam + boat) and airplane (air + plane). 

 

In Botchan, we saw many nouns, e.g., 手ぬぐい ‘hand towel’ ( ‘hand’ + ぬぐい ‘wiping’) (Ch. 1) and マッチ(ばこ) ‘match boxes’ (マッチ ‘match’(はこ) ‘box’) (Ch. 2)]. In languages like Japanese and Chinese, ideograms (characters that express certain ideas or concepts, but are not themselves independent words) can also be combined to form a compound. For example, the noun文学 consists of two ideograms, ‘letter, sentence’ + ‘learning’. Compounds can occur in different parts of speech. In addition to compound nouns as shown above, there are compound adjectives [e.g., 細長(ほそなが) ‘narrow and long’ (細い ‘narrow’ 長い ‘long’) (Ch. 5)], and compound verbs [e.g., (と)(お)りる ‘jump off’ (飛ぶ ‘jump’ + 降りる ‘descend’) (Ch. 1)]. Note also that there are many possible combination patterns (e.g., for compound nouns Noun + Noun, Adjective + Noun, Verb + Noun; and for compound verbs Verb + Verb, Noun + Verb).  We will take a closer look at compound verbs, in particular, those that consist of two verbs (V1 + V2).

 

Compound Verbs

When two verbs form a compound verb, the first one is altered to its ますstem form (連用形(れんようけい)):

(1)    宿直中(しゅくちょくちゅう)に、出歩くなんてマズイだろう?」(コマ20)

(2)    蚊帳(かや)たたきつけて(し)にゃしねぇ。」(コマ 28)

 

By looking at the different parts of compounds such as 出歩く‘to take a stroll outside’ ( ‘exit’歩く ‘walk’) in (1), as well as飛び降りる (described in the paragraph above), we can usually guess the meaning of the compound. In contrast, some compounds consist of two verbs that either do not retain their literal meaning or do not carry equal weight. For example, the meaning of V2 (つける)is not obvious in the compoundたたきつける (2), ‘to smash or slap something onto’ (たた ‘beat’ +つける ‘attach’). The verb つける adds additional information about the nature of the ‘hitting’ expressed by V1, namely a degree of ‘firmness’; this results in the nuanced meaning of ‘hit firmly’ → ‘smash or slap something onto~’. The verb つける can be combined with several other verbs, such as 売りつける ‘sell forcefully’ ( ‘sell’+つける ‘attach’) (Ch. 9). It should also be noted that the meaning of a compound is not always evident from looking at its parts [e.g., つけ込む ‘to take advantage of ~’ (つけ ‘to attach’ + ‘込む’ to go deeper into’) (Ch. 5)]. Thus, after analyzing the pattern of the compound, it is best to double check the meaning in a dictionary.

 

参考文献

Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 237-254 
Yamaguchi, Toshiko (2007). Japanese Linguistics: An Introduction. London & New York: Continuum. pp. 98-132