著者

兼子 盾夫

出版者

湘南工科大学

雑誌

相模工業大学紀要 = Memoirs of Sagami Institute of Technology (ISSN:02860910)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.1, pp.69-78, 1980-07-31

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1. Purpose The point of this essay lies in the clarification of a characteristic of Japanese tense which is found in the past form of verbs, by contrasting with that of English. 2. Investigation Ex. A Imagine a scene in which we have been waiting for a long time for a train in the distance on a platform and that the train just came into our sight far down the rail road tracks. We say in that case "Densha-ga kita." If the train has already rushed into the station, then we would be quite right in saying it in the perfect tense, i.e. "The train has come." For ".... ta "or" .... shita" means the perfect tense as well as the past one in modern Japanese. But why do we say "Densha-ga kita.", when we saw the train coming up to us. It is not the case that the train has reached the platform. It is the case that "the train is just coming to us." Before answering this question, let's take another example : Ex. B "Ashita kaigi-ga atta." is gramatically correct, although it sounds somehow unusual. It simply means that the speaker recollected that the next day he would have a meeting. As the subject (in this case, "I" the speaker) is usually omitted in a Japanese sentence, the time of speaker's awareness (past time) is mixed up with the time of act (present time in the Ex. A or future Ex. B) of the substantial subject. Therefore the first point of my investigation is this : In Japanese the speaker's view point is not necessarily fixed on what is called present time, while in English it is. Often it shifts from the present time to a certain point in the past and from there the events or acts in the past are surveyed in different time orders. The second point of my investigation is concerned with the rule of sequence of tenses. In English, as we see in the above Example B, there is sequence of tenses : "I recalled that the next day we were going to have a meeting.", while in Japanese there is not : "Watashi-wa kaigi-ga arunowo omoidashita." Hitherto we seem to have believed that there is not a definite rule of sequence of tenses in Japanese grammar. But is it a fact? Compare the following pairs : Ex. C-1. "Kare-wa orokadearu (or orokana) jibun-wo hajita." "He was ashamed of being foolish." 2. "Kare-wa orokadatta jibun-wo hajita." "He was ashamed of having been foolish." If I say "Kare-wa orokadearu jibun-wo hajita.", then I mean to emphasize the simultaneity of his foolishness with his act of being ashamed. On the other hand, if I say "Kare-wa orokadeatta jibunwo hajita.", then I simply mean that at a certain point in the past he was ashamed of his former foolish attitude. But as for Ex. C-2,we can also say, "He was ashamed of being foolish." In this case, however, there will be a slight difference between Ex. C-1 and 2 : That is, in Ex. C-1 the speaker's viewpoint shifts from the present time to the cartain past time at which the referred act happened, and sees it simultaneous. On the other hand, in Ex. C-2 the speaker's viewpoint is fixed on the present time. So both events (i.e. "getting ashamed" and "being foolish") were equally looked back upon from the present time as being in the past. The sentence containing ".... aru .... ta" shows the stress on simultaneity of the ".... aru" act, while ".... atta.... ta" either (usually) pluperfect, or simple description of the past events. Throughout these two investigations, I should like to point out a characteristic of Japanese tense, which is more definitely affected by the time of speaker's awareness than that of English.1. Purpose The point of this essay lies in the clarification of a characteristic of Japanese tense which is found in the past form of verbs, by contrasting with that of English. 2. Investigation Ex. A Imagine a scene in which we have been waiting for a long time for a train in the distance on a platform and that the train just came into our sight far down the rail road tracks. We say in that case "Densha-ga kita." If the train has already rushed into the station, then we would be quite right in saying it in the perfect tense, i.e. "The train has come." For ".... ta "or" .... shita" means the perfect tense as well as the past one in modern Japanese. But why do we say "Densha-ga kita.", when we saw the train coming up to us. It is not the case that the train has reached the platform. It is the case that "the train is just coming to us." Before answering this question, let's take another example : Ex. B "Ashita kaigi-ga atta." is gramatically correct, although it sounds somehow unusual. It simply means that the speaker recollected that the next day he would have a meeting. As the subject (in this case, "I" the speaker) is usually omitted in a Japanese sentence, the time of speaker's awareness (past time) is mixed up with the time of act (present time in the Ex. A or future Ex. B) of the substantial subject. Therefore the first point of my investigation is this : In Japanese the speaker's view point is not necessarily fixed on what is called present time, while in English it is. Often it shifts from the present time to a certain point in the past and from there the events or acts in the past are surveyed in different time orders. The second point of my investigation is concerned with the rule of sequence of tenses. In English, as we see in the above Example B, there is sequence of tenses : "I recalled that the next day we were going to have a meeting.", while in Japanese there is not : "Watashi-wa kaigi-ga arunowo omoidashita." Hitherto we seem to have believed that there is not a definite rule of sequence of tenses in Japanese grammar. But is it a fact? Compare the following pairs : Ex. C-1. "Kare-wa orokadearu (or orokana) jibun-wo hajita." "He was ashamed of being foolish." 2. "Kare-wa orokadatta jibun-wo hajita." "He was ashamed of having been foolish." If I say "Kare-wa orokadearu jibun-wo hajita.", then I mean to emphasize the simultaneity of his foolishness with his act of being ashamed. On the other hand, if I say "Kare-wa orokadeatta jibunwo hajita.", then I simply mean that at a certain point in the past he was ashamed of his former foolish attitude. But as for Ex. C-2,we can also say, "He was ashamed of being foolish." In this case, however, there will be a slight difference between Ex. C-1 and 2 : That is, in Ex. C-1 the speaker's viewpoint shifts from the present time to the cartain past time at which the referred act happened, and sees it simultaneous. On the other hand, in Ex. C-2 the speaker's viewpoint is fixed on the present time. So both events (i.e. "getting ashamed" and "being foolish") were equally looked back upon from the present time as being in the past. The sentence containing ".... aru .... ta" shows the stress on simultaneity of the ".... aru" act, while ".... atta.... ta" either (usually) pluperfect, or simple description of the past events. Throughout these two investigations, I should like to point out a characteristic of Japanese tense, which is more definitely affected by the time of speaker's awareness than that of English.