owaru and particle -o

"owaru" and particle "-o"

I remember this thread was begun by a begineer's question asking which is correct, "shigoto-o _oeru_", "shigoto-o _owaru_". Naturally several native posters contended that "Shigoto o owaru" is wrong. "owaru" is an intransitive verb, and cannot take an "-o" clause.

Shigoto-o oeru.
Shigoto-ga owaru.

Okay, this is the first sentences that beginers have to learn. The following is for the intermediate and advanced.

Later I found there's much more to it. Someone pointed out that NHK's announcer says,

"Korede hoosoo-o owarimasu."

A simple explanation that "owaru" is an intransitive verb and cannot takes "-o" particle phrase seem to collapse here.

This thread made me think about the transivity of japanese verbs, and the particle "-o".

Subject: Re: ...-o owaru Date: 1997/06/16 Author: Michitaka Suzuki <msuzuki@mxh.mesh.ne.jp> In article <5npgsf$b4k@news.Hawaii.Edu>, MHE says...

>For those kids that didn't know what Ben Bullock and I were talking >about when we said "...-o owar-" is used (or was, when I started >studying Japanese, anyway), I'll give some evidence that it wasn't >just some non-(native) speakers hallucinating. > >First, Kenkyusha's _New Japanese-English Dictionary_ gives three >examples with "shigoto-o owar-." Next, Sanseido's _Shinmeikai >kokugojiten_ gives under "owaru": "{2}(v.t. 5) opposite hazimeru. >osimai-ni suru. 'kore-de hoosoo-o owarimasu.'" 'kore-de hoosoo-o owarimasu' is OK. But I don't know whether it's appropriate to call it a transitive verb. To us native Japanese, the contrast between a transitive verb and its intransitive partner is quite clear. It's not just whether it takes the particle "o" or not. It's a matter of whether the action is caused by something to another or it happens spontaneously. Of course it depends on the definition of transitivity. If an announcer said, 'Korede hoosoo-o _oemasu_', the listeners would be amazed that the announcer should have such an authority to direct the whole broadcasting station to end up the day. I'm not very familiar with classical Japanese, but I hope the language didn't make a mutation. I can't explain it well, but I would repeat, at least concerning modern Japanese, the same thing as the other Japanese natives have said.

Shigoto-o oetekara, ...    OK
Shigoto-ga owattekara, ... OK
Shigoto-o owattekara, ...  no good,
                           at least sounds awkward to me.

Cheers,
Mitch
--

Later I dropped in at a local library and looked into it, and I found there're a variety of meanings in "-o", though I, native of Japanese, feel there're something common in these meaning which I cannot explain.

Subject: Re: ...-o owaru Date: 1997/06/23 Author: Michitaka Suzuki <msuzuki@mxh.meshnet.or.jp> The particle 'o' marks several things.

ex) Shigoto o oeru.

ex) Nomichi o aruku.

ex) Kousaten o sugiru.

ex) Kidou o soreru.

ex) Ame no naka o gaishutsu suru.

I think that 'o' in 'Korede housou o owarimasu' is (2)c used in an abstract way. It implies a transition FROM the state where the broadcasting is going on to the state where it's done. The implicit subject is 'watashi' or 'watashi-tachi' A good thing about this interpretation of mine is that it's easy to tell why 'housou o hajimarimasu' is wrong in any case.

'o owaru' is not often used in modern Japanese. It seems to be used when the speaker emphasizes the action is not according to his selfish will but as scheduled. Adding 'Korede' often makes the sentence sound better.

Korede, jugyou o owarimasu. Similar examples of idou-hogo indicating the starting point are,

Kaisha o kubi ni naru.
Ie o [kara] shimedasareru.

Cheers, Mitch

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