TENSES IN "RELATIVE CLAUSES" Japanese versus English

(1)

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IN 昂丁1T ℃「TS 　OF 　T罵C田［阿01」OQ 「『

　　　Vo1。24，　No．1，1蜘

TENSES

IN

‘‘

RELATIVE

CLAUSES

’，

　　　　

Japanese

　versus 　

English

Yoko

KISER

＊　　　日本語のテンスアスペ _{クトの}_{研究}_{は始ま} ってから約 80 年の歴史を持つ _。日本語にテンスはないという立場をとる学者もあるが，英語のそれに比べ _て_{体系的}_{でな}いという意味である。日本語においては過去時刻は，過去時と完了相のいずれかを実現するのに _対し，現在時刻は，非過去時（つまり現在時，あるいは未来時）と未完了相のどちらかを実現する。日本語におけるテンスは，このように潜在的にあいまいであ

b

，場合により時指示の機能とアスペクト的機能とのいずれかを実現する。これが日本語に特有なものであるとするのが，言語学者，中右実の見解である。このヰ場から考えると，この日本語と英語におけるテンスとアスペクトのあり方が，従属節における日英語の比較の _{基本}となる。この小論では，従属節，特に形容詞節のテンスとアスペクトと主節の動詞との関係を日英語で検討する。英語と日本語の形容詞節，すなわち連体修飾節を比較すると，一番大きな相違は，英語では連体修飾節は関係詞節に限られるが，日本語ではそうではなく，連体修飾節には英語にすると全く別の構造をとるものがいくつ _{もあ}_る_ということである。日本語を母国語とする学生が英語関係詞節を学習する際の困難の一つはここにある。又，英語には日本語にない時制の一致の法則があり，主節の動詞が過去形のとぎ，従属節の_動詞は影響を受ける。日本語では時制の一致の制限はないが，主節，関係詞節それぞれの動詞が，動作動詞か状態動詞かによって，その文のテンスアスペクトをきめる上での力関係が違ってくる。動作動詞は関係詞節の中でも，主節の中でも， “ 時”を決める上で一番有力である。主節，従属節共に動作動詞をとった場合には，主節のテンスに対して，従属節のテンスアスペ _{クトは}_{絶対的}_で _{はなく}，_{相対的} _に決ってくると言える。

More

　than　eighty 　years　have 　elapsed 　since

the　study 　of　tense　and 　aspect 　of　the　

Japanese

Ianguage

　started ．　

This

long

history

　and 　

its

transition　are　

discussed

　in　

detail

　in　the

thesis，／aPanese 　

Linguistics

，　

Vol

．　ヱ　（1982），

by

Tetsuo

Koyano

．

The

　tenses　of　modern 　

English

　are 　relatively weU ・regulated ．　

There

　are　three　

basic

　tenses；

past　time ，　 present　time 　 and 　

future

　 time：

each 　of　which 　possesses　bQth　the　progressive

aspect 　and 　the　perf t　aspect ．_On 　the　other

hand ，　the 　tenses　of 　the 　

Japanese

language

are 　not 　so　systematic ．　

There

　are 　some 　gram −

marians 　who 　 take　the　viewpoint 　 that　the

tenses　

do

_not 　 _exist　

in

　 modern 　Japanese．

Osamu

Mizutani

is

　one ．　 Tetsuya 　Kunihiro

is　 another ．_Kunihirosays

in

his

book

，

Syste

〃zatic　

Se

η¢ 仞z彦ies（

1967

），　that　the　

Japanese

language

　does　not 　possess　the　tenses　which

are 　the　same 　

in

　 quality　as 　those 　 in　the

English

language

．

astwo

forms

_： ‘_ru ，　

form

　　　．

are ltS_preSent

tense

‘

masu ’

and ‘_mashita ’

Therefore

　the　

forms

According

　to　

Kunihiro

，　

Japanese

　is，　as 　

far

tense

is

　concerned ，　endowed 　with 　only

＊教養課程　講師平成元年 10 月 11 口受付 and ‘ ta’

form

　 which and 　past　tense ，　（

i

．e．

in

_the　

polite

form

，_）

look

　sirnple 　Qn the

surface 　

but

　the　

ideas

　that 　these 　

forms

　carry

are　more 　complicated ．

Let

’s　look　at　sQme 　

Japanese

　sentences 　with

‘_ru ’

form

　and ‘ta’

form

．

Their

　expressive

forms

　are 　only ‘ru ’ or ‘ta’．　

But

　they　are　not simple 　present　and 　past　sentences ．　

They

　are the　main 　ways 　of　referring 　to　some 　meanings

in

　the　

parentheses

．

Present

fOrm

：

　1． a．　

Watashi

−wa 　 yoru　

10

・

ji

−ni　 nemasu

　　　　　　　（

Habitual

　present_{）（}

I

　go　to　

bed

　at 　　　　　　　ten　

in

　the　evening ．）

b

，

Watashi

・wa 　

korekara

　 nemasu ．　　　　　　　（

Future

）（

I

　am 　

going

　to　

bed

　now ．_）　　　　c．

Taiyoh

−_wa _nishi−_ni _shizumimasu _．

　　　　　　　（

General

　truth｝（

The

　sun 　sets 　

in

　the

　　　　　　　west ．_）一 ₄₉ 一

(2)

reecrmeJ\vast

m

24 #

fi

1 e

Past

form:

What

Minoru

Nakau

summed up

is

one of

2. a.

Watashi-wa

sakuya 10-ji-ni nema the mostdistinguishingcharacteristics of the

shita.

(Past

event)

(I

went to

bed

Japanese

Ianguage

and this will

become

the

at ten

last

night.)

key-or

the

base-to

my

discussion

of the

b.

Klmi-wa

moh shukudai-wo shima- comparison

between

English

and

Japanese

shitaka.

(Recent

indefinite

event.) relative clauses.

(Have

you

finished

your

homework

yet?)

The

purpose

of this paper

is

to

look

at the aspect in

Japanese

subordinate

As

a concept, tense

has

three

dimensions-

tense and

_past,

_present

_and

_future.

_1.b.

_shows _clearly Clauses and

how

they

differ

from

those

in

that the present

form

in

Japanese

refers

de.

English. What we call subordinate clauses

both

_finitely_to

_future

_tense _as _well _as noun clauses,

present

inClude

in

languages

tense.

Likewise

in

Japanese

the past tense adjeCtive clauses and adverbial clauses.

I

form

refers not only to the past tense

but

will concentrate on adjective

clauses-only

also to the _present _perfect tense.

In

other relative clauses this time.

The

tense

in

words, tense

in

Japanese

has

not only the adverbial clauses

in

Japanese

is

contained

in

_function of tense

indication

but

also aspectual the

book.

Syntax

of

the

Language

laPanese

_{significance.}

_While

in

English,

tense

in.

and

its

Meaning(1984),

by

Hideo

Terarnura.

dicates

tense only.

Japanese

isone of the languages in which

Minoru

Nakau,

another

Japanese

_gram.

the

dominativefactorsof

the sentence comes

rnarian with the same viewpoint sums up

his

laSt･ In most sentences the predicate which

ideas,

thus. carries the tense

decisive

factor

comes at the

Time

in

the

Japanese

language

covers a end.

Therefore

tense of thesentence can

be

widerangeandhas1urkingambiguities.

one

deCided

only when the end of the sentence

can say that

it

functions

either as tense or aPPears- Contrarywise, an

English

verb

aspectual realization .

The

past tense can USUallY

is

in

the

first

part of the sentence

refer to a

definite

tirne

in

the _past or

it

can and exerts a strong

influence

on the rest of take on the meaning of the _present _perfect the Sentence.

The

rule of the sequence of tense which

is

"past-time-related･to.present. tenSeS

in

English

is

derived

from

this. thing as

the sequence of tlme･"

In

addition the _present tense can

There

is

no

such

refer to a non-past tense

(that

is,

_present

or tenSeS

in

Japanese

and very.often the sarpe

future

time) or something uncompleted at the Verb

form

which appeared m a sentence m

present time.

direct

speech can

be

used as

it

is

in

indirect

rigid rule

The

staternent that _present tense refers _to SPeeCh･

But

in

English

there

is

a

the uncompleted _present _perfect aspect needs Of the sequence of tenses.

If

the reporting

alittle rnore explanation. verb is in the past tense, certain changes

3.

a.

Kare

moh

itta?

have

to

be

normally made

in

converting

from

(Has

he

_gone?)

direct

speech to

indirect

speech: the most

b.

Ahhh

rnoh

itta-yo.

important

one

is

to change _present tense

(Yes,

he's

gone.) verb

into

the _past tense

(te

match the

c.

Iya,

mada

ika-nai.

porting verb).

The

change to the past tense

(No,

he

has

not

_gone

_yet.) applies not only to ordinary

present

tense

In

the examp!e above, the aMrmative ans- verbs,

but

to the _present _perfect and to wer to

_question

3.

a.

is

3. b.

and the nega- modal auxiliaries.

Another

change

is

that

tive reply

is

3.c.

In

3.

c. the present tense of

first

and second person pronouns

into

the

in

ika-nai

refers

to

an _uncompleted _present third _person.

Also

_sometimes _pointer words

perfect aspect accompanied by the adverb

have

_to

be

_changed _too, _as

_you

_can _see

in

(3)

NII-Electronic Library Service

717nsesin"Relative

Clauses"

4. a.

She

said to

him,

"I

_live

_here."

b.

She

told

him

that she lived there.

On

the contrary the same tense verb

given in directspeech can

be

used in indirect speech in

Japanese.

5. a.

John

said, "I am lazy." b.

John

said that

he

was

lazy.

c.

Jyohn-wa,

"Boku-wa

da"

to

itta.

d.

Jyohn-wa

jibun-wa

da

to

itta.

e.

Jyohn-wa

jibun-wa

datta

to itta.

The

Japanese

translation of

5. b.

is

not

5.

e.

but

5.d. where was is expressed as

da

which

is

the present tense of the

Japanese

linking

verb.

Datta

in

5.

e.

is

the past tense

of the linking verb. To convey the real

meaning of the sentence

5.

e., the

English

translation has to

be

either 5. a.

in

direct

speech or 5.

b.

in

indirect

speech,

because

the shifting of a verb to an earlier time re-ference

_generally

applies also to _past tense.

How do the sequence of tenses work

in

adjective clauses: that

is,

relative clauses of

the English language?

These

function the

same way as they

do

in

noun clauses. But

before examining the tense and aspect

pro-blems

in

Japanese

clauses that modify nonus

or the like,let me compare the contents of these clauses

in

both

languages.

In

English

a clause that rnodifies a noun isalways a relative clause, but in

Japanese

this

is

not always true.

A

Japanese

clause

modifying a noun

does

not necessarily take

the

form

of an English relative clause when

translated

into

English.

Herein

lies

the

big-gest

dificulty

when students whose mother

tongue is

Japanese

take up the study of

English

relative

_pronouns

and adverbs.

Here

are some

Japanese

sentence examples

where a noun

is

modified

by

a clause.

(Un-derlined are moclifying clauses,

double

un-derlined

are the nouns rnodified):

6.

a.

Chikyuh-ga

taiyoh-no mawai-wo

lbPanese

b.

a

d.

e.

f'

The

. contalns relative clauses '

in

gerunds, etc. mo

English

nese I cern, of

in

their

The

in

principal order to more

Japanese

are ln

It

is

cording them ' 51 -VlarsusEnglish

(No

one can

deny

the

fact

that

the

earth moves around the sun)

Haha-ga

dare

ka-to

hanashiteiru

koe.

(The

voice

sornebody) Watashi-ga

of

Mother

talking with bosuton-e kuru mae-no toshi.(The

year

Epuron-wobefore

I

came

shiteiru

hito.

(The

lady with the apron

<The

lady

who

is

wearing the apron) Hikkosu keikaku,

(The

plan to move)

Taiyohnetsu-wo

riyohshita

to

Boston)

on)

kekka.

mawaru to-iu

jijitsu-wa

dare-mo

hiteishinai.

(The

result of the use of the solar

systern)

English

translation of sentence

6.a.

an appositive noun clause that

is

introduced

by

the conjunction "that,"

not a clause.

None

of the modifying

in example

6

require relative clauses

English

translation.

They

take other sentence structures, such as appositive clauses, to-infinitives,prepositional phrases,

They

look

the sarne

because

they are

difying clauses, but they are

different

in

grammatical structure when transferred

into

structure.

And

this

is

where

students

becorne

befuddled.

would

like

to move on to my main that is, the tense or aspect comparison

relative clauses

in

English

and

Japanese-especially the relations

between

the tenses

Japanese

relatiye clauses and those of

principal clauses.

rule of sequence of tenses exists only

English

and only when the tense of the

clause

is

past

tense.

Therefore

in

make the comparison easier and

clear,

I

will

deal

from

now on with

sentences whose principal clauses

the

past

tense.

very well-known that

Haruhiko

Kindaishi,

a

famous

linguist of the

Japanese

language,

has classified

Japanese

verbs

to an aspectual view and

distributed

mto

four

groups.

By

the aspectual

(4)

Net=#jit\reS

ca

24

X

eg

1 e

view,

he

rneant whether a verb can

be

ag-glutinated with "....te-iru," which _gives the

verb

its

progressive, effective or statal aspects.

Group

1. Verbs

that show _state

(statal

verbs) "....te-iru" cannot

be

added.

Ex.

"iru"

and "aru"

(be)･

Group

2. Verbs

that show action

gressive verbs) "....te-iru" can be added and thatmeans the action

is

progressive

and the rest of the action

is

stillundone.

Ex.

"yomu"

(read)

and "kaku"

(write).

Group

3.

Verbs

that show action which ends momentarily

tpoint

action verbs)

"....te-iru" _can

be

_added _and _then it means the action

is

over and

its

effect

remains.

Ex.

"shinu"

(die).

Group

4. Stata1

verbs which are always

followed

by

"....te-lru" _Ex. "sobieru"

(sore)

and "niru"

(resemble).

This

grouping is rea11y elaborate and

ap-propriate

but

for

the

purpose

of this

_paper,

I

think

I

ean combine

Group

1 and

Group

4 and name the new _group "Verbs of

State"

and

_put

the other two

into

another group

and name this one "Verbs _of _Motion."

Also

the verbs

in

Groups

2

and 3 can express

some aspects of stasis

(either

progressive

or effective)

if

"....te-iru"

is

added. For ex-ample, the verb "kaku"

{write)

plus the

"....te-iru"

form

_rnakes "kaite-iru,"

which shows

progressive

stasis.

The

verb "shinu"

(die)

combined with "....te-iru"

forms

effec-tive stasis.

But

I

must eliminate the verbs

in

Group

4

because

they are _special

in

the

sense that they

become

more or

less

like

adjectives rather than verbs when used

be-fore

nouns.

They

are usually

followed

by

"....te-lru" _or "....ta" _when _modifying

nouns and this way they

lose

their character of tense and aspect.

For

example, the way "magaru"

(`fwind"

is

used

in

"magat-teiru michi" or "magat-ta

michi."

(Both

rnean "a winding road.")

Here

they

function

like

English

past participlesor

present

participles

which are

being

used adjectivally.

Another

premise

in

this

discussion

is

that

A

in

Colurnn

2

comprises the verbs

in

Group

1,a

Japanese

liking

verb or a copula,

The

reason why I introduced

Kindaichi's

grouping of

Japanese

verbs

is

that this

be-comes

important

in

discussing

the tense and aspect of a _principal clause and

its

subord-inate

clause

(relative

clause).

If

I

put the

verbs

in

relative clauses

in

Column

1

and

those

in

principal clauses

in

Column

2

_and,

call "Verbs

of

State"

A

and "Verbs

of

Motion"

B,

I

shall get the

following:

Table

1 Relative

Clause

Column

1

Principal

Clause

Column

2

IIIIIIIV

AABB

BAAB

A-B

7. Igotalight

from

the man who was near

by.

a.

Soba-ni

iru

hito-ni

tabako-no

hi-wo･

karita.

b.

Soba-ni

ita

hito-ni

tabako-no ni-wo

karita.

c.

Sono-toki

soba-ni

ita

hit"ni

no

hi-wo

karita.

Even

if

the verbs

in

the relative clauses

in

7.

a. and

7.

b.are

different

intense, these

two sentences are equivalent

in

meaning. However, only when such a _word as

"sono-toki"

(then),

whieh

indicates

_past

tense,

is

used, will 7.a. failto function as a

Japanese

sentence like 7.

b.

A-A

8.

The

book

that

Kenji

a comic

book.

a.

Kenji-ga

yondeiru

datta.

b.

Kenji-ga

yondeita

datta.

The

base

verb "yomu"

Kindaichi'S

''Verb

was reading was

hon-wa mango to

hon-wa

manga

(read)'

Group

her'e

belongs

2,

but

with r-

(5)

-NII-Electronic Library Service

71ensesin "Relative Clauses"

"....te-iru"

added,

it

can be considered to

be

a "Verb

of

Stasis."

In

the example above

it

is

_possible

to sub-stitute the past tense verb "datta"

in

the principal clause

in

8.b. with the _present tense verb "da" without changing the

mean-ing

of the sentence.

But

doing

this

in

8.

a. will change the entire sentence

into

the present tense.

The

_past tense sentence

is

lost

because

the verb `"yondeiru"

in

_the

re-lative

clause

becomes

"is reading," while

it

rneans "was _reading"

with "datta."

That

is

to say,

in

this

A-A

combination

the tense

decisive

factor

of the sentence is

the verb

in

the relative clause.

If

the verb

is

_past tense, the sentence

is

in

the

past

and

if

the verb

is

_present tense, the action

is

in

the

_present.

B-A

9. The

lady

whom

I

met at the station

every morning was

Professor

Yokoyama.

a.

Watashi-ga

mai-asa eki-de au

wa

Yokoyama

sensei

datta.

b.

Watashi-ga

mai-asa eki-de atta

wa

Yokoyama

sensei

datda.

In 9. b. past tense "datta"

is

exchanged with

_present

tense verb "da" without

chang-ing the rneaning of the sentence.

But

in

9.

a. the same change

forces

the whole

sentence to change

into

the _present tense.

Here

again the same rule adopted

in

II

is

working.

In

III

the tense of the relative

-clause

_determines

_the _tense of the whole sentence.

B-B

If

the verb

in

a relative clause

is

that of

motion, the meaning of the sentence varies

.greatly

depending

upon whether

it

is

in

the

present or

in

the _past.

10.

a.

At

Narita

I

met my

friend

who was going to

London.

b.

At

Narita

I

met rny

friend

who

has

been

to

London.

c.

Anybody

that will come

first

row can have this.

53

lbPanese

VitrsusEnglish

a'. Rondon-ni

iku

_{tornodachi-ni}

de

aimashita.

b'.

Rondon-ni

itta

tomodachi-ni

de

aimashita.

c'. Ashita saisho-ni kita hito-wa wo moratte

_yoi.

In

10.

a. the person, "I"

met a

friend

some

time

in

the _past and that

friend

"was _going to

London"

But

at that moment the action of _going to

London

had

not

been

completed.

The

present

form

"iku"

(go)

in

10.a. ex-presses

future

time

in

relation to the _past tense "airnashita."

It

is

the

future

tense

measured

from

the particular time

in

the

past when the _person "I" met

his

friend.

The

"iku"

cannot

be

substituted

by

"itta"

(the

past tense of "iku") as we

did

in

th6

case of

I. If

we

do

this, we

get

the sentence

10.

b.

which means "At

Narita

I

met my

friend

who

had

been

to

London."

In

other

words, "itta"

in

10.

b.

expresses time _prior

to thepast tense "aimashita."

_In

_English

this

can

be

expressed _precisely

by

_using _the

pluperfect.

Again

"kita"

in

10. c'.

is

actually the _past tense

form

but

it

expresses the

future

per-fect.

The whole

idea

of the sentence

is

to

convey the _possibilityof the

iuture.

But

in

Japanese

the verb

has

to take the _past

be-cause `fto

come"

had

to

happen

before

"to

_be

able to

have."

It

is

interesting

to

learn

that the same relationship

does

exist

between

the verb

in

an adverbial clause and the verb

in

a principal clause.

11. a.

WhenIwent

to

bed,Isaid,

"Good night."

b.

When

I

got up,

I

said, "Good morning."

a'. Yoru neru-toki "Oyasumi-nasai"

to

iirnashita.

b'.

Asa

okita-toki "Ohayoh-gozaimasu"

to

iimashita.

c'. Yoru neta-toki "Oyasumi-nasai"

to

iirnashita.*

*Not

grammatically

correct.

Judged

from

the tense of the verb

in

the

(6)

teecXmeJit\reet

principal clause, the _present tense

in

the sub-ordinate clause rneans, "incompletion: and the past tense means, "completion." "Neta"

in

11. c. supposedly means that this

deed

of

going to

bed

had

been

done

by

the time "I" said, "Good night."

But

in

reality this

is

_not possible: anybody that

has

gone to sleep can utter no greetings except

in

his

dreams.

This

phenomenon

of a

Japanese

verb

in

_a subordinate clause taking an aspectual

feature

might

be

closely related

to

the

characteristics

of the

Japanese

langtiage

that

I

mentioned

at the

beginning

of this _paper: _tense

in

Japanese

has

got not only tense

indication

but

also aspectual

indication.

Ihave been

discussing

how the

Japanese

verbs

in

relative clauses are related to those

of the principal clauses:

From

thisone can

deduce

an

interesting

power relationship

between

a "Verb'

of

State"

(A)

and a "Verb

of

Motion"

(B).

If

the tense

decisive

power

in

A

is

stronger than

B.,

it

will

be

symbol-ized

as

A>B.

Then

the

discussion

above can

be

recapitulated thus:

''In _relationship

_I

_A<B

'

II

A>A

III

B>A

'

IV

BeB

In

IY

the arrow means that the tense or

aspect of the relative clause verb

is

usually

under the

law

of relativity tothe tense of the principal clause verb.

To

sum up,

it

is

clear that "Verb

of

Mo-tion"

both

ip

a relative clause and a _principal

clause

is

endowed with the most _power

in

deciding

the tense of

the

sentence.

Bibliography

1) Contem?orat:yEnglishEducation,_vol.8.

Parisen between Engtish and

foPanese,

by

ca

24

_ig

_za

1e

Tetsuya Kunihiro, Fumi Saisho, Masako Isshiki,etc. Kenkyusha, 1978.

2) ContemPorary English Education, vel. 7,

Parisen between Engiish and

1kePanese,

by'

Akira Ohta et al., 1965.

3) Lqgic in English-Lqgic in JlaPanese, Study

of'

the ComParativeLinguistics,by Sadao Ando.

4) AsPect

of

foPanese

Vizrbs,by Haruhiko

daichi,Mugi Shoboh, 1976.'88.

5)

Syntax

of the

foPanese

Language and its

lldeaning, by Hideo Teramura, Kuroshio･ PublishingCo,,1984.

6) Lect"reson CbmParison between the English'

and

lbPanese

Languages,vol. 2, Grammar, ed.,

by Tetsuya Kunihiro, 1980.

7) Mlaaning and the English Vlerb

(Longman

Group, Ltd.,1971),GeoffreyN. Leech.

8) English Middle Adverbs and the

_lbPanese

Student: A Contractive Stutlyofvaddte Vlarb･

Wbrd OrtlerPatterns in Engtish and their

LexicallySimilarCounterPartsin

faPanese,

by Kenneth L. Jackson, University of Hawaii.

1967.

9) Engiish Ed"cation Series3, English Education'

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lliPanese

Lang"age, by Mamoru

Morisumi, Ken Miyakoshi, etc., Chuhkyo

Publishing Company, 1983.

10) iVlawStudy

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ldPanese

Grammar, by Susumu.

Kuno, Taishukan Publishing Cornpany, 1973.

11) Study

of

Jtipanese

Grammar, by Susumu. Kuno, Taishukan Publishing Company, 1973.

12> Grammatical Ruleg

of

the

1izPanese

Langwage.

by Kazuko Inouye, Taishukan Publishing

Company, 1978.

13) introductionto the Comparative Study

of

the'

English and

lbPanese

Languages, by Minoru.

Umegaki, Taishukan Publishing Company,.

1974.

14)

_Syntax

_of

the

1laPanese

Language, by Keiichiro･

Okutsu, Taishukan Publishing Company, 1974. 15) PrinciPles and Practice

of

English Grantmar,

by George O. Curme, Translated by Kenji.

Kishi,ShinozakiShorin,1958.

16) A Communicative Grammar

_of

English,by G"

Leech and J.Svartvik, Longman Group Ltd.,.