「指示詞『そんな』に見られる感情・評価的意味―その意味の実態を探る―」
The Emotional or Evaluative Meaning of the Demonstrative Adjective "sonna" in "sonna N"
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the emotional or evaluative meaning of the demonstrative adjective "sonna" in "sonna N" as in the following sentences.
(1) Sonna koto wa wakatte iru. (I know such a thing.)
(2) Sonna mono wa doo demo ii. (I do not care such a thing.)
These sentences show that the speaker sees the situation as worthless or meaningless. The perception of strength of the underlying emotional or evaluative meaning in these sentences is attributed to the use of sonna as in sonna koto or sonna mono.
This is different from the sentences using the demonstrative expression soo iu as the following.
(3) Soo iu koto wa wakatte iru. (I know the thing like that.)
(4) Soo iu mono wa doo demo ii. (I do not care the thing like that.)
Sentences (3) and (4) do not create the strong emotional or evaluative meanings as in seen in (1) or (2) above.
The result of the investigation shows that this "sonna" in "sonna N" is used when the speaker regards the situation as subjectively "negative", as in meaningless, worthless, unexpected, unsuitable or unrealistic. This is true even when the noun it modifies carries an objectively positive meaning, as in sentences (5) and (6).
(5) Sonna shinsetsu wa kaette meiwaku da. (Such kindness is rather annoying for me.)
(6) Sonna rippa na shoo wa watashi ni wa mottainai.(Such a wonderful prize is too good for me.)