----- Original Message -----From: Mika JarmuszSent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 6:58 AMSubject: "examples" into J
----- Original Message -----From: Makoto SakamotoSent: Sunday, November 08, 2009 7:26 AMSubject: Re: "examples" into J同感です。このような場合、ひと昔、いや三昔ほど前までは、ごくふつうに、「典型例」あるいは「代表例」などとする「例」が多かったものです。
〔中略〕
「一例」 means “an example.”
If one wishes to present a plurality of examples in proper Japanese, one can say, for example <g>, 例を挙げれば without specifying singularity or plurality.
It is a colloquial mistake to list a plurality of examples by starting it with 「一例」 or “an example” and I believe it is grossly a confusion in your mind to think that it is allowed to list a plurality of examples with an introduction of 「一例」.
Minoru Mochizuki
> 徳之島のハンシャレ(祖母)、八重山のハネ(母)、喜界島のバ(母)などがその一例である。
This is an interesting question. I agree that that 一例 sounds better
than a bare 例, but I've
been wondering what the 一 adds. I'm not sure that it has to do with
single vs. multiple.
If you look at the sentence that comes before
親関係を表わす女性に対する族称には、「ハ」や「バ」がよく用いられる。
then it's clear that there will be multiple examples. To me, multiple
even seems to be
part of the concept of 例 -- if there's one example, there will be
others. So translating it
as "individual examples" doesn't add much. All examples are individual.
Right now my theory is that this is contrasted with something like 代表的な例. These
are not especially significant examples. Not widespread or well known or better
illustrations of the principle than others might be. Maybe the nuance is
"random examples". So when translating into Japanese, maybe you would
want to use
this when the particular examples are not chosen for any particular
reason, and could
just as well be other examples.
--
Tom Donahue
In all of these examples <g>, what the authors are referring to by the word 一例 is not “an example, “a group of examples.”
In other words, the word “group” is hidden. There is no grammatical contradiction.
So what is your big <g> problem?
Minoru Mochizuki
From: hon...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:hon...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mika Jarmusz
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 3:12 AM
To: hon...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: "examples" into J
Yes, thank
you. My take is that such usage of 一例 is quite
acceptable. Granted, it may not be a good idea in certain formal
documents, where chokuyaku English translators' vocal protest may be
anticipated <g>, or poorly formed Japanese writing makes it ambiguous
even to Japanese readers, but 一例 representing multiple
individual examples as in "a sampling of xxx" makes perfect
sense to me.