第289課: 自発動詞
Spontaneity is a grammatical phenomenon which describes verbs whose actions occur independently of the agent (doer). Etymologically speaking, such verbs that exhibit this behavior are either passivized with the auxiliaries ～られる and ～れる or their equivalent in older Japanese.
Spontaneity
The passive/potential auxiliaries ～られる and ～れる may indicate spontaneity. A spontaneous action occurs independently of the agent’s intent. As far as the grammar of the sentence at large, we see that particle usage is in line with passive grammar: が marks the object of the passivized structure and に marks the agent of the spontaneous action.
1. 人の気配が感じられた。
The presence of (the) people (there) was felt.
2. 行く先が案じられた。
The prospects were considered.
3. 波の音に驚かれた。
I found myself surprised by the sound of the waves.
4. 昔のことがふと思い出された。
I found myself remembering about the old days all of a sudden.
5. 意気込みが感じられた。
I could feel (their) ardor.
6. 空気がおいしいと感じられました。
The air came to be delicious.
7. 入院した祖母の容体が案じられる。
To get concerned about the condition of one’s hospitalized grandmother.
8. 秋の気配が感じられる。
To find oneself sensing (the coming of) autumn.
9. 僕にはどうしてもそう思われる。
No matter what, all I think of is that.
10. いかにも不思議に思われた。
It seemed really mysterious.
聞こえる & 見える
The verbs 聞こえる, 見える, as well as other similar looking verbs such as 燃える and 消える also express spontaneity (自発性), forming a semantic class of verbs known as verbs of spontaneity (自発動詞).
聞こえる and 見える themselves do not denote potential1, rather they describe how their respective senses spontaneously come to fruition. It just so happens that you can see or hear something. This starkly contrasts 聞ける and 見られる, which show that you can (if you want) hear/see something, indicating one’s intentions can be realized.
11. 雨（の）音の中でも彼らの声が聞こえた。
I could hear their voices even in the middle of the rain.
12. 興奮しているように見えます。
(He) looks like he’s excited.
13. 魚は音が聞こえると思う？
Do you think that fish can hear?
14. 講演が聞こえません。
I can’t hear the lecture.
15. 年齢相応に見える。
To look one’s age.
16. 映画館で今黒沢の映画が見られます。
You can now see Kurosawa’s movies in the theater.
17. iPhoneで天気予報が聞けます。
You can hear the weather forecast on your iPhone.
18. 昨日は香具山が見えたが、今日は見えない。
I could see Mt. Kaguyama yesterday, but I can’t see it today.
19. 降り出しそうに見える。
It appears that it’s going to rain.
20. 隣のテレビの音が聞こえる。
I can hear the neighbor’s television(‘s sound).
21. 眼鏡をかけるとよく見えます。
I see better when I wear glasses.
22. 右目があまりよく見えないらしい。
He apparently can’t see very well with his right eye.
Literally: As for him, his right eye can’t see very well.
思える
思える indicates spontaneous thought and is rather synonymous with 思われる. The only true difference between the two is that the former is felt to be more objective and the latter is felt to be more subjective.
23. 良い作品とは思えません。
I cannot/could not think of it as a good work.
24. 地名の由来はアイヌ語から来ていると思われます。
The place name’s origin is thought to come from Ainu.
Spontaneity ≒ Potential?
By now you may wonder if there are any contexts in which spontaneity grammar overlaps with potential grammar. This is, in fact, the case, not just due to their shared origin, but due to the nature of how potential actions end up realizing may not necessarily indicate as much control over the situation as is usually expected. When this is the case, we see that potential verbs (可能動詞) are often accompanied with sentences endings such as ～てしまう or ～てくる, which further diminish the perceived control over the realization of the action by the agent.
25. A生徒がいつのまにか書けてしまった。
Student A managed to be able to write it before I knew it.
26. びっくりするくらい泣けてきたわ。 (Feminine)
I was surprised at how many tears (I was able to) shed.
27. 自然に笑える映画を作ってみてください。
Try making a movie which one would naturally laugh to.
28. 良い作品とは思えません。
I cannot/could not think of it as a good work.
29. 地名の由来はアイヌ語から来ていると思われます。
The place name’s origin is thought to come from Ainu.
- Long ago the auxiliary verb ～ゆ from Old Japanese, over time, evolved to both give Modern Japanese its passive/potential auxiliaries ～られる and ～れる while also manifesting as part of all spontaneity verbs – exs. 燃ゆ = 燃える, 消ゆ = 消える. This is the etymological context for why spontaneity grammar did give rise to potential grammar, though those entities are now semantically distinct in Modern Japanese. ↩︎