A comparison with "-garu" and verbs of emotion：Focusing on words which express the feeling of unpleasantness

• Main Authors: Hung-wei Lee, 李泓瑋
• Other Authors: Shih-ho Wang
• Format: Others
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/01363520488193752310

碩士 === 東吳大學 === 日本語文學系 === 102 === In Japanese, “adjectives of emotion” are used to describe one’s own emotional states. In contrast, when describing a third person’s emotional states, adjectives are often take the morphological suffix “-garu” or are “verbs of emotion”. In previous studies, most notably in Nishio(1972) and Ohso(2001), some words in the form of “-garu” can be replaced by “verbs of emotion” (for example, “kurushi-garu” can be replaced by “kurushimu”), meaning that words in the form of “-garu” and “verbs of emotion” overlap in meaning. However, the previous studies could not specify the differences in meaning between them. Thus, this study collected language examples from e-databases such as “BCCWJ” and studied three pairs of words which express “the feeling of unpleasantness”, with each pair containing a word in the form of “-garu” and a corresponding “verb of emotion”. In the discussion, we explored the differences in meaning, usage tendency, and limitation on usage between them. The three pairs of words studied are listed below: 1.“kurushi-garu” and “kurushimu” 2.“kuyashi-garu” and “kuyamu” 3.“iya-garu” and “kirau” The main results of the research are summarized below: 1.Only when one observes the “language”, “facial expression”, or “movement” of the person expressing the emotion can adjectives in the form of “-garu” be used to describe the third person’s emotional state. However, there is no such limitation when using “verbs of emotion”These verbs can be used as long as the person expressing the emotion is in the described emotional state when being spoken to. 2.Because adjectives in the form of “-garu” are meant to be used to describe a third person’s facial expression or movement, using an adjective in the form of “-garu” would more accurately communicate the immediacy of the situation to the reader than using the corresponding “verb of emotion”. This study contains seven chapters. The first chapter describes the research method(s) and the objects under study of the present investigation. Chapter two summarizes the previous studies regarding adjectives in the form of “-garu” and “verbs of emotion”. Chapter three discusses the limitations on person and tense/aspect of the expressions under investigation in the present study. The analysis of the three pairs of verbs and the corresponding adjectives is undertaken in chapters four, five, and six, along with the differences between the objects in each pair. Finally, chapter seven covers the conclusion and remaining problems along with implications for future prospective studies.