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I was trying a certain "SNS" app and encountered this phrase "友だちへの追加を許可". Not sure who it would allow to add whom, I switched my phone's language back to English and the corresponding setting said "allow others to add me". (See below the screenshots.)

Is it then correct that here "友だちへの" modifies "許可"? It feels quite strange to me. I don't know how to theorize this but somehow I feel that the only grammatically plausible modification relation here is that "友だちへの" modifies "追加". What am I missing here?

screen_shot_JPscreen_shot_EN

Cabbage
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2 Answers2

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(誰かを)友達に追加する means "to add (someone) as a friend". (誰かを)友達へ追加する would also mean the same thing, but its nuance is closer to "to add (someone) to the friend (list)".

Following this rule, the nominalized version of those is 友達への追加. (Somehow にの is an invalid combination.) Thus 友達への追加を許可 literally means "Allow adding as a friend" or ”Allow adding to the friend list".

This may not be 100% wrong, but I agree that it's highly confusing. Since there is no word that corresponds to "others", it's very hard to get who's doing what. It should have been "他の人が(あなたを)友達に追加するのを許可" or at least "他人に友達追加を許可". (The gray description below the checkbox is clear enough, though.)

naruto
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  • Thank you very much! I got lost in my tunnel vision by only thinking that へ indicated direction. It had not crossed my mind that への came from に (become something)＋の. You answer was really helpful! – Cabbage Oct 22 '21 at 01:27
  • @Cabbage BTW, my initial interpretation was not "Allow (others) to add (you) as a friend" but "Allow (the app) to add (users) *AS FRIENDS*". That's as if "friend" is a special category and modifying your friend list requires your permission. – naruto Oct 22 '21 at 02:02
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I don't know how to theorize this but somehow I feel that the only grammatically plausible modification relation here is that "友だちへの" modifies "追加". What am I missing here?

You are missing "common sense" which takes years of experience dealing with exactly these types of sentences, which is difficult to explain logically. Many Japanese people are puzzled with these wordings too, especially those who are not used to such interface. Common sense is not common after all.

Let's break it down:

Firstly, 友だちへの追加を許可（する） can be interpreted in two ways:

  • 「友だちリストへの追加」を許可する
  • 「友だち」へ対して、「追加」という行為を行う事を許可する

So it's already ambiguous. Here's where the "common sense" comes in to play. Don't ask me how I know this, but 友だち here does not mean (your) friend. 友だち here is pointing to a "list of friends" or "contact list". Actually from an engineer's perspective it's all about attributes - users who have the attribute "friend" appears on "list of friends".

So let's replace 友だち with contact list.

「contact list」への追加を許可 = allow/permit the addition to "contact list". Now we're getting close. We still don't know "who is giving permission", "who is receiving permission", "who's contact list". Again let's use "common sense" - you are at the liberty to press/slide the button, thus you have control over permissions. Also, look at the description: 「あなたの電話番号を保有しているLINEユーザー」

So the answer is, that button/slider enables/disables the following:

You allow "あなたの電話番号を保有しているLINEユーザー" to do "addition to (their) contact list".

To make it simple, you are allowing "LINE users who possess YOUR phone number" to add you to their friend list.

dungarian
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