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What's the meaning of "meaning"?

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Outline

The various uses of 「いう」
Using 「いう」 to define
Using 「いう」 to describe anything
Rephrasing and making conclusions with 「という」
Using 「って」 or 「て」 for 「という」
Saying 「ゆう」 instead of 「いう」

The various uses of 「いう」

In the previous lesson, we learned how to quote a subordinate clause by encasing it with 「と」. This allowed us to talk about things that people have said, heard, thought, and more. We also took a look at some examples sentences that used 「と」 and 「」 to describe how to say something in Japanese and even what to call oneself. In this section, we will learn that with 「と」, we can use 「」 in a similar fashion to define, describe, and generally just talk about the thing itself. We'll also see how to do the same thing with the casual 「って」 version we first learned about in the last lesson.

Using 「いう」 to define

In the last lesson, we briefly looked at how to introduce ourselves by using 「と」 and 「」. For instance, we had the following example, which Alice used to introduce herself.

（１）　私はアリスといいます。
- I am called Alice. (lit: As for me, you say Alice.)

This sentence pattern is probably one of the first things beginner Japanese students learn in the classroom. In this case, the verb 「いう」 doesn't mean that somebody actually said something. Rather, Alice is saying that people in general say "Alice" when referring to her. While using kanji for 「いう」 is perfectly acceptable, in this case, since nothing is actually being said, using hiragana is also common.

This idea of describing what a person is known or referred to as can also be extended to objects and places. We can essentially define and identify anything we want by using 「という」 in this manner. As you can imagine, this is particularly useful for us because it allows us to ask what things are called in Japanese and for the definition of words we don't know yet.

Examples

（１）　これは、なんという魚ですか。
- What is this fish referred to as?.

（２）　この魚は、鯛といいます。
- This fish is known as "Tai".

（３）　ルミネというデパートはどこにあるか、知っていますか？
- Do you know where the department store called "Lumine" is?

（４）　「友達」は、英語で「friend」という意味です。
- The meaning of "tomodachi" in English is "friend".

Using 「いう」 to describe anything

We learned how to use 「と」 to describe what something is known or referred to as. However, we can take this idea even further by attaching two subordinate clauses. At this point, 「」 is so abstract that it doesn't even really have a meaning. When a subordinate clause is encapsulated with 「と」, you must have a verb to go along with it and 「」 is simply being used as a generic verb to enable us to talk about any subordinate clause. This allows us to describe and explain just about anything ranging from a single word to complete sentences. As you can imagine, this construction is quite useful and employed quite often in Japanese.

Examples

（１）　主人公が犯人だったというのが一番面白かった。
- The most interesting thing was that the main character was the criminal.

（２）　日本人はお酒に弱いというのは本当？
- Is it true that Japanese people are weak to alcohol?

（３）　独身だというのは、嘘だったの？
- It was a lie that you were single?

（４）　リブートというのは、パソコンを再起動するということです。
- Reboot means to restart your computer.

We can abstract it even further by replacing the subordinate clause with a generic way of doing something. In this case, we use 「こう」、「そう」、「ああ」、and 「どう」, which when combined with 「いう」 means "this way, "that way", "that way (far away in an abstract sense)" and "what way" respectively.

Examples

（１）　あんたは、いつもこういう時に来るんだから、困るんだよ。
- It's because you always come at times like these that I'm troubled.

（２）　そういう人と一緒に仕事をするのは、嫌だよね。
- [Anybody would] dislike doing work together with that type of person, huh?

（３）　ああいう人と結婚できたら、幸せになれると思います。
- I think you can become happy if you could marry that type of person.

（４）　大学に行かないって、どういう意味なの？
- What do you mean, "You're not going to go to college?"

Rephrasing and making conclusions with 「という」

We can attach the question marker 「か」 to 「と」 in order to add a questioning element. This construction is used when you want to rephrase or redefine something such as the following dialogue.

Example Dialogue

（Ａ）　みきちゃんは、あんたの彼女でしょう？
- Miki-chan is your girlfriend, right?

（Ｂ）　う～ん、彼女というか、友達というか、なんというか・・・
- Um, you might say girlfriend, or friend, or something…

This construction is used all the time, particularly in casual conversations. It can be used to correct something, come to a different conclusion, or even as an interjection.

Examples

（１）　お酒は好きというか、ないと生きていけない。
- I like alcohol or rather, can't live on without it.

（２）　多分行かないと思う。というか、お金がないから、行けない。
- Don't think I'll go. Or rather, can't because there's no money.

（３）　というか、もう帰らないとだめですけど。
- Rather than that, I have to go home already.

Rather than using 「か」 to rephrase a conclusion, we can also simply use 「」 to sum up something without rephrasing anything.

Example Dialogue

（Ａ）　みきちゃんが洋介と別れたんだって。
- I heard that Miki-chan broke up with Yousuke.

（Ｂ）　ということは、みきちゃんは、今彼氏がいないということ？
- Does that mean Miki-chan doesn't have a boyfriend now?

（Ａ）　そう。そういうこと。
- That's right. That's what it means.

Using 「って」 or 「て」 for 「という」

As mentioned in the previous lesson, 「って」 is very often used in causal slang in place of 「と」, because it allows us to leave out the rest of the sentence and assume context (or just plain assumption) will take care of the rest. We already saw that we can use 「って」 to replace 「と」 as well. However, since we just learned how to use 「と」 to do much more than just simply say something, there is a limit to just how much you can leave out. In any case, 「って」 will allow us to leave out not only 「」 but also any accompanying particles as you can see in the following example.

Examples

（１）　来年留学するというのは、智子のこと？
- The studying abroad next year thing, is that Tomoko?

（２）　来年留学するって智子のこと？
- The studying abroad next year thing, is that Tomoko?

「だって」 is also another phrase that leaves out just about everything. By convention, it is used to express disagreement or dissatisfaction usually to whine, complain, or to make an excuse but you can't tell what it means just from looking at it. It is an abbreviation of something along the lines of 「とはいっても」 meaning, "even if that was the case".

Example Dialogue 1

（A）　しないとだめだよ。
- Have to do it, you know.

（B）　だって、時間がないからできないよ。
- But (even so), can't do it because there is no time.

Example Dialogue 2

（A）　行かなくてもいいよ。
- Don't have to go, you know.

（B）　だって、みんな行くって。私も行かないと。
- But (even so), everybody said they're going. I have to go too.

In some cases, the small 「つ」 is left out and just 「て」 is used instead of 「って」. This is done (as is usually the case for slang) in order to make things easier to say. In general, this is when there is nothing before the 「て」 or when the sound that comes before it doesn't require the explicit separation the 「っ」 gives us in order to be understood.

Examples

（１）　てことは、みきちゃんは、今彼氏がいないてこと？
- Does that mean Miki-chan doesn't have a boyfriend now?

（２）　ていうか、もう帰らないとだめですけど。
- Rather than that, I have to go home already.

Since slang tends to be used in whichever way the person feels like, there are no definite rules defining whether you should use 「って」 or 「て」. However, 「て」 is generally not used to express what people have actually said or heard, which is why it wasn't covered in the last lesson.

（誤）　みきちゃんが、明日こないて。
- (Can't use 「て」 for something actually said)

（正）　みきちゃんが、明日こないって。
- Miki-chan says she isn't coming tomorrow.

Saying 「ゆう」 instead of 「いう」

Because the 「と」construction is used so often, there are a lot of different variations and slang based on it. While I do not plan on covering all of them here, you can check out Casual Patterns and Slang in the miscellaneous section for yet even more slang derived from 「と」.

The last thing I'm am going to briefly mention here is the use of 「ゆう」 instead of 「いう」. In conversations, it is quite normal to say 「ゆう」 instead of 「いう」. 「ゆう」 is easier to say because it is simply one letter with a long vowel sound instead of the two different vowel sounds of 「いう」.　

Examples

（１）　てゆうか、もう帰らないとだめですけど。
- Rather than that, I have to go home already.

（２）　そうゆうことじゃないって！
- I said it's not like that (lit: it's not that type of thing)!

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This page has last been revised on 2006/9/19