Making Sense of Japanese Grammar

51. Tense markers separate events

51 Tense markers separate events In Unit 50, we saw that te-forms connect closely related features or events as in the following: Yama-no natsu-no asa-wa suzushikute, sawayaka-da. “Summer mornings in the mountains are cool and refreshing.” Mifune-san-wa migi-no hoo-ni tatte, Yamada-san-wa hidari-no hoo-ni tatte-kudasai. “Mr. Mifune, please stand on the right, and Ms. Yamada, please stand on the left.” Immediate causes also are likely to be expressed with te-forms: Fuyu-ga kite, Shiberia-wa yuki-ni oowareta. “Winter came, and Siberia was covered by snow.” Shashin-shuu-o mite, fuyu-no Shiberia-e ikitaku natta. “I looked through a photo book and became interested in going to Siberia in winter.” Suisenjoo-o kaite-kudasatte, arigatoo gozaimasu. “Thank you for writing a letter of recommendation.” Okurete, sumimasen. “Sorry to be late.” This is because te-forms do not carry their own tense information. They do not separate events in ways forms containing tense information (e.g., taberu “eat,” tabeta “ate,” tabenai “do not eat,” tabenakatta “did not eat”) do. When a sentence containing its own tense marker occurs within a larger sentence, the relationship between the two sentences is more complex than in the case of a sentence containing a te-form. Even far-fetched causal relationships can be expressed as in the following: 124 Fujiwara-san-ga kasa-o motte konakatta-kara, kyoo-wa ame-ni natta no-yo. “Because Ms. Fujiwara didn’t bring her umbrella, it started to rain today.” Complex Event vs. Simple Event This contrast between tensed forms and tenseless forms is a pervasive one. Of a pair of similar patterns, the one with an additional tense marker always has a more complex event structure than the one without. For instance, observe the following: Takahashi-san-ga iku-deshoo. “I suppose that Ms. Takahashi will go.” Ikimashoo. “Let’s go.” The form iku “go” in the first pattern is tensed. As a result, the sentence contains two separate events, one of Takahashi going somewhere and another of the speaker adding his/her judgment. In other words, the embedded event, which carries an extra tense marker, is an objectified event separate from the judgment. In fact, because of this objectification, the embedded part can carry even a past tense marker, as in Takahashi-san-ga itta-deshoo “I suppose that Ms. Takahashi went.” In the second pattern, on the other hand, iki “go” is a stem form, a tenseless form. So, ikimashoo “let’s go” can only refer to one point in time and has a much simpler meaning. A similar contrast is observed between the following two sentences: Betonamu-e ryokoo-suru tame-ni okane-o tameta. “In order to travel to Vietnam, I saved money.” Ryokoo-gaido-o kai-ni hon-ya-ni itta. “In order to buy a travel book, I went to a bookstore.” At first glance these patterns may look similar, but there is an important difference stemming from the difference in the event structure. In the first sentence, which has an extra tense marker, traveling to Vietnam is a long-term objective of saving money. The two events are clearly separated. In the second, which has only one tense marker, buying a travel book is an immediate objective of going 125 to a bookstore, and the events are very closely connected. The contrast between the following sentences can also be explained in the same way: Kutsu-o haita mama, ue-e agatta. “I went up (still) wearing my shoes.” Kutsu-o haite, ue-e agatta. “I went up wearing my shoes./I put on my shoes and went up.” These are difficult to tell apart from their English translations, but there are differences between them which derive from the fact that one has an additional tense marker and the other does not. The first sentence above contains an additional tense marker, so the two sub-events are more independent of each other than those in the second sentence. The subject put on the shoes long before he/she went up. Because of this lapse of time, this sentence is often interpreted with the sense of negligence. In the second sentence, on the other hand, the two events take place closer together or simultaneously. Furthermore, since the two events are closely connected, the first event is interpreted as the means for the second. The contrast...