Chapter 136Reasons, Purposes, and Desired Outcomes
Kusu, wa kusu, hi kusu, kunine, participant relations, independent connective uses, and regional functions.
136.1 Kusu: purpose and reason
Kusu relates one situation to another as a purpose, cause, or reason. Nakagawa illustrates going out to collect firewood and preparing a boat because the narrator wants to pursue someone Nakagawa (2024: 352–353, examples 670–672). The purpose construction also occurs without a motion predicate.
The intended eating is the purpose of the preparation. Tamura also gives setting a trap to catch a bear and saving money to go out Tamura (1997: 50). Purpose is understood relative to the action it motivates; a past narrative can therefore describe an action performed for a subsequent purpose.
136.2 Reasons with wa kusu and hi kusu
Nakagawa distinguishes reason-giving wa kusu and hi kusu from purposive kusu. His wa kusu example includes a state: the speaker had withheld information because the addressee was still small Nakagawa (2024: 353, example 674).
‘Because you were still small, I had not told you, but …’
Nakagawa 2024: 353; Saru, Example 674
PFV is the conventional gloss used in chapter 111. Nakagawa analyzes a as presenting earlier background in contrast with what follows (pp. 305–306).
Tamura associates wa kusu with actual, concrete situations and permits hi kusu with general topics as well. The latter contains a nominalized clause with hi Tamura (1997: 50). Nakagawa reports few examples of hi kusu outside Saru and Chitose Nakagawa (2024: 353).
136.3 Kunine and a desired outcome
Tamura distinguishes a direct purpose with kusu from an indirectly desired outcome with kunine. She says that the participants in the two actions are often the same with purpose kusu and often different with kunine Tamura (1997: 51).
The directive concerns speaking; the desired result concerns the hearers. Refsing similarly illustrates making something so that grandmother may eat it, and reports that kunine is infrequent in her Shizunai sample Refsing (1986: 252–253, example 444). These source descriptions give participant tendencies, without requiring an identical subject relation in every purpose clause.
Purpose linkage belongs alongside the distinct complement constructions with kuni described in Chapter 107 (Kuni, Indirect Complements, and Purpose Clauses). The prospective kusu ne construction is treated in Chapter 119 (Conjecture, Intention, and Prospective Events).
136.4 Independent uses and regional comparison
Nakagawa also permits kusu at the beginning of a new sentence. His Chitose example follows a command to bring travellers inside and continues with an intention to ask the purpose of their journey Nakagawa (2024: 353, example 673). Independent connective uses are part of the broader variation in attachment discussed in Chapter 131 (Clause Linkage and Its Analyses).
The final vowel of kusu is often devoiced, giving a pronunciation written kus Nakagawa (2024: 352). Regional meaning also requires attention. Refsing reports causal and purposive kusu in Sakhalin Raychishka through Murasaki's description Refsing (1986: 252, citing Murasaki 1979:131ff.). Nakagawa separately describes Sakhalin combinations for continuing actions and resulting states, corresponding to southern constructions with kor and wa Nakagawa (2024: 344–345, examples 628–629).