2025 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 1-17
This paper aims to describe the origin of Old Japanese subsidiary verb “-kanu,” with emphasis on why the meaning of negative-potential constructions can be expressed without a negative form. The following points are illustrated.
①The negative-potential usage of “-kanu” is established when subordinate clauses, which are interpreted as being in a contradictory relationship with the main clauses, expresses “the non-realization of a desirable event.”
②The “-kanetu(mo)” construction, which includes “-kanetsu(mo)”, expresses the negative-potential based on any analogy of the “-kanete” construction. The relationship between two events, which is guaranteed by the conjunction particle “te,” is confirmed by the syntactic environment, such as cooccurrence with a conditional clause, and the presence of the sentence-final particle “mo.”
③The two constructions express unrealized events in relation to actual events, and expressions they are classified as “realizable negative-potential” in negative potential.
Notably, “-kanu” can express negative-potentials without being accompanied by a negative form because its formation involves a contradictory sentence structure.
