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A Little Grammar Goes a Long Way

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関西外国語大学教授 岡田伸夫が英語文法を考察するコラム

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34

with+小節(中)


3. with+小節
with句には付帯状況を表す用法があります(岡田 2000)が,withに後続する部分は小節[NP XP]です。次の(15)の例を見てください。
 
(15) a. [With her heart pounding] she opened the door.
  b. He was sitting on a bench [with his eyes closed].
c. You must not speak [with your mouth full].
d. With [the kitchen a mess], how can I possibly cook anything?--Radford (1988)
e. She looked at me [with tears in her eyes].
f. John went to bed [with his trousers on].
g. Multi-ethnic Singapore observes four official languages for its Chinese, Malay and Indian population of about 3.8 million, [with English acting as the lingua franca].

with [NP XP]のNPはXPの主語ですが,そのことは次の事実からもわかります(Radford 1988)。まず,英語にはThe cat is out of the bag.(秘密が漏れた)とかThe chips are down.(重要なときがやってきた)のようなイディオムがありますが,このthe catやthe chipsは主語の位置にしか出てこれません。
 
(16) a. I believe [the chips to be down].
  b. They reported [the cat to be out of the bag].

また,冗語的(pleonastic)なitやthereも主語の位置に現れます。
 
(17) a. I've never known [it to snow in summer].
  b. I consider [there to be no good reason not to].

これらの表現を含む次の(18)a, bのような文が許されるということは,with [NP XP]のNPがXPの主語であることを証明しています。
 
(18) a. With [the cat out of the bag], there's not much point in trying to hide the truth anymore.
  b. Furthermore, calculations on the balance of energy in each event are consistent with [there being a missing energetic neutrino].--BNC

with [NP XP]のXPがNPの述部であることは,次の事実からわかります。次の(19)a, bでは[NP XP]のNPが固有名詞です。
 
(19) a. I'd sneak into the Open Access computers in college at weekends, or type with Jessica at my feet working her way thorough piles of jigsaws.--Rowling (2000)
  b. With McCawley in Chicago, I ate Mutter Panir at the Moti Mahal restaurant, and Yook Hoi at a Korean restaurant called Cho Sun Ok, and Panang Nue at Friend, a Thai restaurant ... . --Trillin (1981)

固有名詞はそれ自身が十分に限定されていますから,制限的な修飾語がつくはずがありません。したがって,(19)a, bのJessicaやMcCawleyに続く前置詞句がそれらの修飾語であるはずがなく,with以下の部分は[NP XP]の小節構造をなしていると考えざるをえません。また,下の(27)a, bのwith [NP XP]では,NPが人称代名詞のme, himですが,これらの人称代名詞も十分に限定されていますから,さらに修飾語によって限定することはありません。したがって(27)a, bの例もme, himに続く現在分詞節がme, himの述語であることを証明しています。

withの後ろに名詞句と小節の等位構造が現れることもあります。次の(20)a, bを見てください。
 
(20) a. It was a frame house of two storeys, with [broad verandas on both floors] and [a roof of corrugated iron].--Maugham (1963)
  b. With [his tall, spare form], and [his great eyes flashing out of his pale face], he was an impressive figure].--Maugham (1963)

今まで見てきたwith+小節は,前置詞withによって主文とゆるやかに結びつけられている例ばかりでしたが,with+小節には名詞を修飾する用法もあります。次の(21)a, bの例を見てください。
 
(21) a. Researcher Edward Boring devised the following illustration to show how we each perceive different things in the same picture. Women are more likely to see an old [woman with her chin tucked into the collar of her fur coat] but men are more likely to see the left-side profile of a young woman who is looking away.--Pease & Pease (1999)
[あごを毛皮のコートにうずめているおばあさんと向こうを向いている若い女性の左横側の2通りの見方ができる絵を男性と女性がどのように見がちかということを述べている文章]
  b. There was something wonderful about a [drink with tomato juice in it].--Rowling (2000)

冒頭のIn front of me is a door with a big sign on it.のwith a big sign on itも直前のdoorの後置修飾語です。これは,道具や所有を表すwith句が動詞修飾用法のほかに名詞修飾用法をもっているのと同じです。
 
(22) a. Someone killed him [with a knife]. [動詞killを修飾]
  b. I want a house [with a large garden]. [名詞houseを修飾]


4. with+小節と独立分詞構文
with+小節は主節が表す状況に付帯する状況を表しますが,この働きは独立分詞構文(主節の主語とは異なる主語を明示的にもつ分詞構文) にもあります。次の(23)-(25)abはwith+小節と独立分詞構文が非常に近い働きをしていることがわかります。
 
(23) a. He turned back to Indy, a jubilant expression on his face.--MacGregor (1989)
  b. While we were waiting for the coffee, the head waiter, with an ingratiating smile on his false face, came up to us bearing a large basket full of huge peaches.--Maugham (1963)
 
(24) a. 'Well, one thing you've not done, George, as far as I can see,' said Mrs. Meadows, the mocking but not unkindly smile still in her eyes, 'and that's to make a fortune.'--Maugham (1963)
  b. She looked at him with a shrewd smile in her eyes and he, talking to her, grinned with his toothless gums.--Maugham (1963)
 
(25) a. She woke shivering, to see father beside her bed, a candle in his hand.--Mansfield (1990)
  b. I was bending forward with my elbows on my knees while they talked to each other behind me, ... .--Caldwell (1996)

Emonds (1985, p.82)はwith+小節と独立分詞構文をabsolute constructionという共通項でくくり,次の(26)のような例示をしています。
 
(26) (With) Weekly visits being limited to only five minutes, the prisoners mounted a protest.

しかし,with+小節と独立分詞構文には違いもあります。次のその違いを3つ見てみましょう。まず,(21)a, bで見たように,with+小節には名詞修飾用法がありますが,独立分詞構文にはありません。

次に,with+小節の場合には小節の主語は目的格をとりますが,独立分詞構文の主語は主格をとる(河上 1993)という違いがあります。次の(27)(28)の例文を比べてください。代名詞をイタリックにしています。

(27) a. We made it to Pachutla in something like five hours in that monstrous car, with me driving and Uncle Dan relaxing, ignoring the hairpin turns and enjoying the wild landscape, the ravines and chasms that gaped on either hand.--Swados (1991)
  b. 'The whole time since I heard that Walter would be released unconditionally I have been wondering how things will work with him being allowed out at night and to talk to whoever he wishes and me sitting at home in the evenings, gagged.' --BNC
 
(28) a. Once, she being childishly curious, her father had given her a sip of the tot of rum he had bought to ease her grandfather's chest.--BNC
  b. He was without a wife, which was a great wonder, he being well-proportioned and of handsome countenance.--BNC
c. He begged her to run away with him. She couldn't leave her husband, her home; and what life could they look forward to, she an aging woman, he so young?--Maugham (1951)

上で見たように独立分詞構文の意味上の主語は主格なのですが,Frank (1972)によれば,popular speechでは目的格が聞かれることもあるようです。これをFrankは古い時代の詩に見られる用法(例: Him destroyed for whom all this was made, all this will soon follow.--Milton, Paradise Lost)の名残だろうと言っています。

さらに,次の(29) に示されているように,一般的に絶対表現(absolutive)は従属節(埋め込み文embedded sentence) には生起しにくいのですが,次の(30) に見られるように,with+小節のほうはある種の埋め込み文にも生起しうるようです(Emonds 1985)。
 
(29) *The protest [that the prisoners mounted (with) weekly visits being limited to only five minutes] was severely repressed.--Emonds (1985)
 
(30) a. The defendant, [who seems very serene with his lawyer bringing out a mitigating circumstance], will nonetheless be condemned.--Emonds (1985)
  b. So we assume [that the system of principles is a fairly rich deductive system, with certain parameters to be set by the experience].--Chomsky (1984)
c. Most men, if they're going to lie to a woman, would be far better off [doing it over the phone, in a letter or with all lights off, and a blanket over their heads].--Pease & Pease (1999)
d. He poked around dutifully, asked me to photograph him [blinking in the bright sun with his arms around a pair of ragged Indian kids], and haggled over some fake Mixtec relics with the women who peddled them in baskets outside the church at Mitla; but he said nothing to indicate that he wanted anything other than this.--Swados (1991)

withの存在がwith+小節を周りとの関係をとらえやすくしていることがこの違いの背後にあるのかもしれません。しかし,次の(31)に見られるように,独立分詞構文が埋め込み文に現れる例もありますので,with+小節と独立分詞構文の埋め込み文における生起可能性についてはさらに考察してみる必要があります。
 
(31) And in the evening after the high tea which was their last meal, [while they sat in the stiff parlour, the ladies working and Dr. Macphail smoking his pipe], the missionary told them of his work in the islands.--Maugham (1963)


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大阪大学教授 岡田伸夫