日本語文法教材における「テアル」構文の記述内容分析

Abstract

This paper’s focus is on the「テアル」construction known for its highly frequent misuse and great pedagogical difficulties in consideration of the viewpoint that relevant textbooks also contribute to the occurrence of the misuse. This paper therefore covers the analysis of 14 Japanese grammar books that are available on the market and takes into account whether the textbooks describe the「テアル」sentence structure correctly, and whether they present appropriate examples for each type of usage. Whether explanations related to the usage of the「テアル」construction have been centered on ‘results of artificial acts’ can be identified while any account related to that of ‘results of unintentional acts and an objective description of what is right there before one’s eyes’ has rarely been found. In response to the question as to whether those textbooks present correct examples of each usage, findings show that there are a lot of issues on that subject as well. Particularly, a fair number of examples of the ‘objective description of what is right there before one’s eyes’ are found to have been presented incorrectly as examples of ‘results of artificial acts’. Further to those problems, there is the problem of representing passive and active voices. Although the「テアル」construction is divided into the active and passive voices in the context of syntactic constructions, and each semantic usage is different, the results of the textbook analysis actually show that most textbooks neither distinguish both sentence structures nor even mention the difference in usage. Moreover, 13 out of 14 textbooks subject to this examination give erroneous descriptions, saying that ‘intransitive verbs cannot be used as the predicate of the「テアル」construction’. With respect to the active voice, it is even possible to use intransitive verbs as the predicate of the「テアル」construction if there is any volition; therefore, the account that all intransitive verbs cannot be used as the predicate of the「テアル」syntax is definitely an erroneous conclusion. Lastly, it is confirmed that those textbooks tend to repeatedly use most of examples of the「テアル」syntax only for some specific verbs. Thus, in order to prevent any misuse and to enhance a correct understanding of the「テアル」construction, it is urgently necessary to rectify the issues entrenched in the aforementioned textbooks.