昨日の Voicy 「英語の語源が身につくラジオ (heldio)」にて，「#844. 他動性とは何か？ --- 秋元実治先生との対談」を配信しました．30分ほどの濃密な transitivity 談義です．秋元先生のご著書「#5184. 秋元実治『イギリス哲学者の英語』（開拓社，2023年）」 ([2023-07-07-1]) の議論に基づいた談義となっていますので，そちらもご覧いただければと思います．
対談でも論じている通り，他動性とは絶対的な指標というよりは，相対的で連続的でプロトタイプ的な指標です．他動性を決定するパラメータは様々ありますし，言語によっ具現化の仕方は異なります．それくらい抽象度の高い概念ではありますが，だからこそ広く一般的な言語の諸現象に関わってくるのであり，理論的にも興味深い視点となるわけです．主体性 (agentivity) や主観化 (subjectification) という概念とも複雑に関連してくるようで，合わせて言語変化の潮流を記述する有望な道具立てとなりそうです．
他動性については，本ブログでも次の記事を書いてきました．参考まで．
・ 「#5202. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？」 ([2023-07-25-1])
・ 「#5204. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？ (2)」 ([2023-07-27-1])
・ 「#5209. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？ (3)」 ([2023-08-01-1])
言語学には，絶対格性 (absolutive) と能格性 (ergativity) という，言語に表出する世界観の重要な違いがある．同じ過程 (process) であっても，各々の見方を通してみると，まったく異なる解釈がなされ，まったく異なる（統語）表現が現われてくる．
トムが目を閉じるシーンを見たとしよう．これを「トムの目が閉じた」と描写するか，「トムは目を閉じた」と描写するかは視点の違いといわれる．日本語でも英語でも，統語的にはそれぞれを自動詞文，他動詞文と呼ぶことが多い．いずれの文でも過程 (Process) は「閉じる」で一致しているが，前者の文では主語（意味役割としては Agent）は「トムの目」，後者の文では「トム」となる．また，後者の文では「（トムの）目」という目的語 (Goal) が現われる．これが絶対格性の言語観である．
ところが，能格性の言語観によると，いずれの文においても「閉じる」が過程 (Process) であることは異ならないが，「トムの目」が媒体 (Medium) として同じ意味役割を担っているものと解釈される．それは，いずれにせよ「閉じる」という過程が成立するためになければならない「媒体」だからだ．この言語観によれば，後者の文における「トム」は媒体を発動させる主体 (Agent) とみなされる．
つまり，2つの文のペアについて，絶対格的見方と能格的見方があることになる．Halliday (341) より，いくつかの英語の短文を挙げつつ，2つの言語観を比較してみよう．
(a) transitive interpretation
| the boat | sailed | vs. | Mary | sailed | the boat |
| the cloth | tore | vs. | the nail | tore | the cloth |
| Tom's eyes | closed | vs. | Tom | closed | his eyes |
| the rice | cooked | vs. | Pat | cooked | the rice |
| my resolve | weakened | vs. | the news | weakened | my resolve |
| Actor | Process | vs. | Actor | Process | Goal |
|---|
| the boat | sailed | vs. | Mary | sailed | the boat |
| the cloth | tore | vs. | the nail | tore | the cloth |
| Tom's eyes | closed | vs. | Tom | closed | his eyes |
| the rice | cooked | vs. | Pat | cooked | the rice |
| my resolve | weakened | vs. | the news | weakened | my resolve |
| Medium | Process | vs. | Agent | Process | Medium |
|---|
他動性 (transitivity) について，2回にわたって論じてきた．
・ 「#5202. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？」 ([2023-07-25-1])
・ 「#5204. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？ (2)」 [2023-07-27-1]
今回は Bussmann (494--95) の用語辞典より transitivity の項を引用する．
Valence property of verbs which require a direct object, e.g. read, see, hear. Used more broadly, verbs which govern other objects (e.g. dative, genitive) can also be termed 'transitive'; while only verbs which have no object at all (e.g. sleep, rain) would be intransitive. Hopper and Thompson (1980) introduce other factors of transitivity in the framework of universal grammar, which result in a graduated concept of transitivity. In addition to the selection of a direct object, other semantic roles as well as the properties of adverbials, mood, affirmation vs negation, and aspect play a role. A maximally transitive sentence contains a non-negated resultive verb in the indicative which requires at least a subject and direct object; the verb complements function as agent and affected object, are definite and animate . . . . Using data from various languages, Hopper and Thompson demonstrate that each of the factors listed above as affecting transitivity is important for making transivtivity through case, adpositions, or verbal inflection. Thus in many languages (e.g. Lithuanian, Polish, Middle High German) affirmation vs negation correlates with the selection of case for objects in such a way that in affirmative sentences the object is usually in the accusative, while in negated sentences the object of the same verb occurs in the genitive or in another oblique case.
他動性とは，(1) グラデーションであること，(2) 言語によってその具現化の方法は様々であること，が分かってきた．理論的には，対格目的語を要求する，結果を表わす直説法の肯定動詞が，最大限に "transitive" であるということだ．
・ Bussmann, Hadumod. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Trans. and ed. Gregory Trauth and Kerstin Kazzizi. London: Routledge, 1996.
「#5202. 他動性 (transitivity) とは何か？」 ([2023-07-25-1]) ひ引き続き，他動性 (transitivity) について．
Halliday の機能文法によると，他動性を考える際には3つのパラメータが重要となる．過程 (process)，参与者 (participant)，状況 (circumstance) の3つだ．このうち，とりわけ過程 (process) が支配的なパラメータとなる．
「過程」と称されるものには大きく3つの種類がある．さらに小さくいえば3つの種類が付け足される．それぞれを挙げると，物質的 (material)，精神的 (mental)，関係的 (relational)，そして 行為的 (behavioural), 言語的 (verbal), 存在的 (existential) の6種となる．
Transitivity A term used mainly in systemic functional linguistics to refer to the system of grammatical choices available in language for representing actions, events, experiences and relationships in the world . . . .
There are three components in a transitivity process: the process type (the process or state represented by the verb phrase in a clause), the participant(s) (people, things or concepts involved in a process or experiencing a state) and the circumstance (elements augmenting the clause, providing information about extent, location, manner, cause, contingency and so on). So in the clause 'Mary and Jim ate fish and chips on Friday', the process is represented by 'ate', the participants are 'Mary and Jim' and the circumstances are 'on Friday'.
Halliday and Mtthiesen (2004) identify three main process types, material, mental and relational, and three minor types, behavioural, verbal and existential. Associated with each process are certain kinds of participants. 1) Material processes refer to actions and events. The verb in a material process clause is usually a 'doing' word . . .: Elinor grabbed a fire extinguisher; She kicked Marina. Participants in material processes include actor ('Elinor', 'she') and goal ('a fire extinguisher', 'Marina'). 2) Metal processes refer to states of mind or psychological experiences. The verb in a mental process clause is usually a mental verb: I can't remember his name; Our party believes in choice. Participants in mental processes include senser(s) ('I'; 'our party') and phenomenon ('his name'; 'choice'). 3) Relational processes commonly ascribe an attribute to an entity, or identify it: Something smells awful in here; My name is Scruff. The verb in a relational processes include token ('something', 'my name')) and value ('Scruff', 'awful'). 4) Behavioural processes are concerned with the behaviour of a participant who is a conscious entity. They lie somewhere between material and mental processes. The verb in a behavioural process clause is usually intransitive, and semantically it refers to a process of consciousness or a physiological state: Many survivors are sleeping in the open; The baby cried. The participant in a behavioral process is called a behaver. 5) Verbal processes are processes of verbal action: 'Really?', said Septimus Coffin; He told them a story about a gooseberry in a lift. Participants in verbal processes include sayer ('Septimus Coffin', 'he'), verbiage ('really', 'a story') an recipient ('them'). 6) Existential processes report the existence of someone or something. Only one participant is involved in an existential process: the existent. There are two main grammatical forms for this type of process: existential there as subject + copular verb (There are thousands of examples.); and existent as subject + copular verb (Maureen was at home.)
これらは，言語活動においてとりわけ根源的な意味関係の6種を選び取ったものといってよいだろう．言語哲学的にいえば，これらのパラメータがどこまで根源的な言語カテゴリーを構成するのかは分からない．考え方一つである．
しかし，機能文法的には当面これらを前提として「過程」が定義され，さらにいえば「他動性」の程度も決まってくる，ということになっている．他動性とはすぐれて相対的な概念・用語ではあるが，このような言語観・文法観の枠組みから出てきた発想であることは知っておきたい．
・ Pearce, Michael. The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies. Abingdon: Routledge, 2007.
『新英語学辞典』 (1267) によると，他動性 (transitivity) は Halliday の文法理論における用語で，法 (mood) と主題 (theme) とともに Halliday 文法における3つの大きな体系網を構成する．他動性とは，他動詞 (transitive verb) と自動詞 (intransitive verb) の区別に対応する概念というよりも，むしろ節に参与する要素間の「関与性」ととらえるほうが適切だろう．
例えば Sir Chirstopher Wren built this bridge. といった典型的な SVO の文においては，行為者，過程，目標の3者が互いに関与し合っており，他動的であるといわれる．しかし，これは単純で典型的な例にすぎない．いくつの参与者がどのように関与し合っているかのパターンは様々であり，細分化していくと最終的には一つひとつの個別具体的な過程を区別しなければならなくなるだろう．この細分化の尺度を delicacy と呼んでいる．他動性は，したがって，動詞がいくつの項を取り得るかという問題や，伝統文法における「文型」の話題とも関連してくる．
英文法に引きつけて考えるために，Crystal の言語学辞典より transitivity を引いて，例とともに理解していこう．
transitivity (n.) A category used in the grammatical analysis of clause/sentence constructions, with particular reference to the verb's relationship to dependent elements of structure. The main members of this category are transitive (tr, trans), referring to a verb which can take a direct object (as in he saw the dog), and intransitive (intr, intrans), where it cannot (as in *he arrived a ball). Many verbs can have both a transitive and an intransitive use (cf. we went a mile v. we went), and in some languages this distinction is marked morphologically. More complex relationships between a verb and the elements dependent upon it are usually classified separately. For example, verbs which take two objects are sometimes called ditransitive (as opposed to monotransitive), as in she gave me a pencil. There are also several uses of verbs which are marginal to one or other of these categories, as in pseudo-intranstive constructions (e.g. the eggs are selling well, where an agent is assumed --- 'someone is selling the eggs' --- unlike normal intransitive constructions, which do not have an agent transform: we went, but not *someone went us). Some grammarians also talk about (in)transitive prepositions. For example, with is a transitive preposition, as it must always be accompanied by a noun phrase complement (object), and along can be transitive or intransitive: cf. She arrived with a dog v. *She arrived with and She was walking along the river v. She was walking along.
他動性については，今後も考えていきたい．
・ 大塚 高信，中島 文雄（監修） 『新英語学辞典』 研究社，1982年．
・ Crystal, David, ed. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 6th ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008. 295--96.
昨日の記事「#4314. 能格言語は言語の2割を占める」 ([2021-02-17-1]) にて，統語意味論的なカテゴリーとしての能格 (ergative) に触れた．英語は能格言語ではなく対格言語であり，直接には関係しない話題とも思われるかもしれないが，能格性 (ergativity) という観点から英語を見直してみると，新鮮な発見がある．動詞の自他の問題と密接に関わってくるし，受動態 (passive) や中動態 (middle_voice) の問題とも深く交わる．実際，動詞の自他の区別は英語の動詞や構文を考える際の伝統的で基本的な見方を提供してくれているが，これを能格性の視点から見直すと，景色がガランと変わってくるのだ．
Malmkjær (532) の "Ergativity" の項の一部を引用する．
Complementary to the transitive model of the grammar is the ergative model, an additional property of the system of transivitity, which foregrounds the role of Agency in providing a 'generalised representational structure common to every English clause' (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 281). This system is simultaneous with those of process type and circumstance . . . . Here the key variable is not a model of extension, as in transitivity, but of causation: 'The question at issue is: is the process brought about from within, or from outside?' (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 287). Every process must have one participant central to the actualisation of the process; 'without which there would be no process at all' (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 288). This is the Medium and along with the process forms the nucleus of the clause. The Medium is obligatory and is the only necessary participant, if the process is represented as being self-engendering. If the process is engendered from outside, then there is an additional participant, the Agent. Options in the ergative model of transitivity define the voice, or agency, of the clause. A clause with no feature of 'agency' is neither active nor passive but middle (for example, Europeans arrives). One with agency is non-middle, or effective, in agency (for example, Europeans invaded Australia). An effective clause is then either operative or receptive in voice. In an operative clause, the Subject is the Agent and the process is realised by an active verbal group; in a receptive clause the Subject is the Medium and the process is realised by a passive verbal group (Australia was invaded by Europeans) (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004: 297).
昨日も触れたように，世界の諸言語には対格言語 (accusative language) と能格言語 (ergative language) という2大タイプがある．各々 transitivity 重視の言語と ergativity 重視の言語と言い換えてもよい．文法観の大きく異なるタイプではあるが，一方に属する言語を他方の発想で眺めてみると，新たな洞察が得られる．結局のところ，人間が言語で表現したいことを表現する方法には少数のパターンしかなく，表面的には異なっているようにみえても，それはコード化の方法を少しく違えているにすぎない，と評することもできそうだ．
・ Malmkjær, Kirsten, ed. The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia. 3rd ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
・ Halliday, M. A. K. and Matthiessen, C. M. I.M. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3rd ed. London: Edward Arnold, 2004.
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