Paper short abstract:

In contrast to the –(r)are- constructions in Konjaku Monogatari-shu, where spontaneous is rarely used and public honorific is the dominant, spontaneous is the most common in Genji Monogatari. This is due to the text types of a mixed Japanese-Chinese style and a typical Japanese text style.

Paper long abstract:

Regarding the -(r)are- construction in Classical Japanese, the meanings of spontaneous, passive, potential and honorific are generally accepted. However, it is known to have a usage of "promotor use" (also called public honorific) in the Chinese-influenced writing style. The use of "promotor" was pointed out as a case in which the object of respect is ambiguous, and is used when an organization such as the imperial court publicly holds some kind of event. This "promotor use" is a construction type that has been regarded as an honorific usage because the object is sometimes indicated by the accusative case, although its function is very similar to that of the passive usage of the inanimate subject in Contemporary Japanese.

We compared the -(r)are- constructions in the Konjaku Monogatari-shu, a collection of tales from the Kamakura period (1185-1333) known for its mixed Japanese-Chinese writing style, with those in the Genji Monogatari, a representative Japanese writing style of the Heian period (794-1185). The results of the survey showed that in Genji, spontaneous use is most common, followed by passive and potential, while in Konjaku, spontaneous is rarely used, and promotor use (public honorific), which is rarely found in Genji, is conspicuous. This may be related to the difference in the text types of the two works. While in Konjaku more Chinese words and more verbs are used to express emotions, in Genji more emotional adjectives such as "aware" and "okashi" are used to express emotions more directly. This is due to the fact that Konjaku is an objective text that is told from a distance from the characters, whereas Genji is a subjective text that is told with sympathy for the characters. It is presumed that the -(r)are- constructions have developed under the influence of these textual structures.