Making Sense of Japanese Grammar

55. The speaker’s perspective means incidental connection, speaker’s recollection, or speaker’s reasoning

55 The speaker’s perspective means incidental connection, speaker’s recollection, or speaker’s reasoning speaker past present future Incidental Relationship The speaker’s perspective is used when the events in the subordinate clause and the main clause are only incidentally linked, as in the following: Kore-o yurusu hito-wa sore-mo yurusu-daroo. “People who will tolerate this will also tolerate that.” Likewise, the connection between the subordinate clause and the main clause in the following sentence is incidental: Yonekura-san-wa okaasan-ga tsukuru fuku-o sotsugyooshiki-ni kite-iku. “For graduation, Ms. Yonekura will wear the dress that her mother will make.” This sentence clearly adopts the speaker’s perspective, because a non-past form is used for the subordinate event (making the dress) even though it precedes the main clause event (wearing it). This sentence is in sharp contrast with the following sentence, which adopts the main clause perspective because of the sense of purpose: Yonekura-san-no okaasan-wa Yonekura-san-ga sotsugyooshiki-ni kite-iku fuku-o tsukuru. “Ms. Yonekura’s mother will make the dress that Ms. Yonekura will wear for her graduation.” (purpose) 140 main subordinate subordinate main clause clause clause clause Yonekura-san-no okaasan-wa Yonekura-san-ga sotsugyooshiki-ni kite-iku fuku-o tsukutta. “Ms. Yonekura’s mother made the dress that Ms. Yonekura would wear for her graduation.” (purpose) Note that in these sentences, regardless of the tense of the main clause, a non-past form is used for the subordinate event (wearing the dress) which follows the main clause event (making it) . Event Independent of Main Clause Participant’s Awareness As explained in Unit 54, generally speaking, when the subordinate clause describes knowledge or perception, the main clause perspective is adopted for the tense of the subordinate clause. The following are the sentences predicated on the principles given in Unit 54: Wakamono-tachi-wa jirai-ga umatte-iru koto-o shitte-ita. “The youths knew that the land mines were buried.” Wakamono-tachi-ni-wa jirai-ga bakuhatsu-suru shunkan-wa mienakatta. “The youths could not see the instant the land mine exploded.” However, if the event in the subordinate clause is simultaneous with the event in the main clause, and if the subordinate event can be presumed to have happened irrespective of the participant’s awareness of it, the speaker’s perspective is also allowed. This is why the following pair is also grammatical: Wakamono-tachi-wa jirai-ga umatte-ita koto-o shitte-ita. “The youths knew that the land mines were buried.” Wakamono-tachi-ni-wa jirai-ga bakuhatsu-shita shunkan-wa mienakatta. “The youths could not see the instant the land mine exploded.” Speaker’s Recollection or Temporal Framework Another category of sentences which take the speaker’s perspective is exemplified by the following sentences: 141 * Kodomo-no koro sunde-{ita/*iru} uchi-ni-wa ookina sakura-no ki-ga atta. “In the house in which we were living in my childhood, there was a big cherry tree.” * Kore-kara benkyoo-{suru/*shita} tokoro-wa tesuto-ni deru-ka-mo shirenai. “The part that we will study now might appear on the test.” This type of sentence contains either a temporal expression like kodomo-no koro “in my childhood,” which indicates that the subordinate clause represents the speaker’s recollection, or a temporal expression like kore-kara “from now on,” kinoo “yesterday,” or ashita “tomorrow,” which is defined relative to the speaker. Such elements directly link the subordinate clause to the speaker, forcing the speaker’s perspective. Speaker’s Reasoning If the subordinate clause reflects the main clause participant’s reasoning, the main clause perspective is adopted, as we have seen in Unit 54: Akira-wa mendoo-na no-de, shorui-o teishutsu-shinakatta. “Because it was bothersome, Akira did not submit the documents.” But if the subordinate clause reflects the speaker’s reasoning, the speaker’s temporal perspective is adopted: Shorui-wa ososugita no-de, juri-sarenakatta. “Because they were too late, the documents were not accepted.” Checking your comprehension: Why must the boldface part in the following sentence be a past form? Sono tooji katei-kyooshi-ni kite-ita daigakusei-no namae-wa Saitoo-datta. “The name of the college student who was coming to tutor me at the time was Saito.” For related topics, see also Units 53 and 54. 142 ...