Is the following のが a nominalizing のが?

Question

I have the following Japanese sentence:

身につけているのが、病院で着せられる検査服のようなものだから仕方ないのかもしれないが、どう見てもここは病院なんかじゃない。

and I was wondering if the bolded のが nominalizes the 身につけている before it, as Darius says that

"...Basically, all the 〜の does is make a verb act like a noun, and then syntactically-speaking, that noun-like thing can fit into any spot a noun would normally go, and that spot will already be marked with が, の, or some other case particle" (Darius).

But I'm unable to wrap my head around what the nominalization of 身につけている is, which in turn makes me doubt the のが's ability to nominalize 身につけている in the above sentence.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:18

3

In this case, you can forget nominalization. One way to interpret this sentence is to think of this の as a vague noun meaning "thing" or "one". Then 身につけているの on its own can mean "the thing which I'm wearing" rather than "(the act of) wearing".

身につけているのは検査服だ。
What I'm wearing is a hospital gown.

But this construction has a broader use and has a specific name called cleft sentence.

検査服を身につけている。
I'm wearing a hospital gown.

身につけているのは検査服だ。
It's a hospital gown that I'm wearing.

Technically speaking, this の is still a kind of noun and 身につけている is a kind of relative clause. Note that のが can be used instead of のは since it's in a subordinate clause (～だから).

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:18

Community

1

answered Apr 29 '19 at 04:38

naruto

285,549
12
305
582

In light of the fact that me normalizing the first part of the sentence can NOW be tossed out the window, would the following still work as a accurate English translation? " I am dressed in clothes they can put on you at a hospital that are similar to western examination clothes, I guess it can’t be helped, but no matter how you look at it this place is a hospital or something like it." (I've been agonizing over trying to understand the above sentence for the past several hours, and I'm just now discovering that the... what I think is a normalizing のが... can be forgotten.... – Toyu_Frey Apr 29 '19 at 05:34
@Toyu_Frey "It (=my initial misunderstanding that this place was a hospital) may not have been helped because what I am wearing is something like an examination gown people are told to put on at hospital. However, (after some consideration,) this place is definitely *not* a hospital no matter how I look at it." So, he *initially* thought this place was a hospital (due to his clothing), but he *now* thinks this place is not a hospital. – naruto Apr 29 '19 at 05:56
so then, my translation is not a accurate one? I'm confused as to how you are parsing the sentence to reach your own translation. – Toyu_Frey Apr 29 '19 at 06:03
@Toyu_Frey ｛［身につけているのが、（病院で着せられる検査服のようなもの）だ］から｝仕方ないのかもしれない／が、（どう見ても）ここは病院なんかじゃない。 But can I confirm the previous context? Did he initially think he was in a hospital? (e.g., "Where am I? A hospital?") – naruto Apr 29 '19 at 06:04
I see how you parsed it. I don't think I'd be able to do that in English without adding a few sentences that are not present in the original and then changing the format of the actual, original sentence, as the above sentence introduces the possibility-of-a-hospital-concept to the reader. If you want, I can upload a pic of the page the Japanese sentence is on. – Toyu_Frey Apr 29 '19 at 06:10
1

@Toyu_Frey Okay, now I see why this 仕方ない is tricky. This 仕方ない is still someone who mistakes the place as a hospital. How about this free translation: "Since what I am wearing is an examination gown used at hospital, I cannot blame someone if he thought this was a hospital, but no matter how I look at it, this place is definitely not a hospital." – naruto Apr 29 '19 at 06:30
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/92986/discussion-between-toyu-frey-and-naruto). – Toyu_Frey Apr 29 '19 at 06:31

Is the following のが a nominalizing のが?

1 Answers1