「姿勢変化動詞＋ナガラ」が表わす意味

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that the 'postural change verb + nagara' representing collateral circumstances indicates the “resultative” aspect. However, some case studies have shown that there are a few examples where the postural change verb + nagara construction indicates the “progressive” aspect. Noting the examples where some nagara clauses indicate different aspects even if they have the same construction of postural change verb + nagara, this paper is to classify these examples of postural change verb + nagara construction according to the differences in aspects and study the relationship between the aspect and meaning of nagara clause. According to the study findings, the aspects of nagara clauses in examples containing postural change verb + nagara constructions could be classified into three: progressive, resultative and iterative. Among them, while the nagara clause whose aspect was progressive indicated the postural change of an agent running parallel with the event of the principal clause, the nagara clause whose aspect was resultative indicated a posture taken by the agent while the event of the principal clause was realized. Likewise, in case of iterative aspect, the nagara clause comprehensively indicated the postural change of an agent repeatedly performed along with the event of the principal clause. More importantly, it was confirmed that if the time interval for the event of a principal clause is shorter than that for the event of the nagara clause, the postural change verb + nagara can indicate the “progressive” aspect unlike the previous explanations. It means that the conjunction forms of nagara can be focused on the ‘action’ stage of an event indicated by a postural change verb which cannot be understood in the dichotomous classification of verbs where they are verbs of action and verbs of change.