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There are four distinct cases of 未然形+う: intention, plus three of irrealis moods: hortative, dubitative, presumptive, . Very often Japanese grammar books refer to all of them as volitional form. Linguistic volition is defined semantically or syntactically, or combination of the two. So, 未然形+う is clearly morphological phenomena and therefore cannot be called volitional. If one must call it that way the actual term should be volitive (one of the irrealis moods), but it cannot be called such because it does not correspond to the usage of 未然形+う.

user1602
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    Mostly for backward compatibility i.e. tradition. There are another term "potential form", while "potential" in the WP article is... – broccoli forest May 03 '17 at 12:29
  • I am sure you aware that potential is a totally different case: 未然形+られる for 一段 verbs (れら for 五段 verbs in classical Japanese) – user1602 May 03 '17 at 22:07
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    I guess you're talking about mismatch between general term and language-specific term in this question, right? – broccoli forest May 04 '17 at 04:47
  • Can you explain with examples what the hortative, dubitative, and presumptive moods are in Japanese? – Brian Chandler May 06 '17 at 03:14
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    Hortative: Let's go 行きましょう, Dubitative: Shall we go? 行きましょうか。Presumptive: He is probably a teacher 多分先生でしょう。 – user1602 May 06 '17 at 15:07

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I would say probably because such a piece of grammar doesn't exist in English in the exact same way it does in Japanese, therefore there is no one word to describe it perfectly. You could explain it more precisely, but that would in tern make it more complex. Normally something more complex wouldn't be taught until later on in the learning of the language, but, this grammar being so common and integral in basic speech patterns, has to be somewhat simplified just to help people get their foot in the door. The same way that the usage of だ/です is in reality much more complicated than it's normally explained; you can't jump right into something like that. And really, for all intents and purposes, it's fine without going so deep.

rgolden
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  • My point is that analogical grammatical constructions exist in English, namely hortative, dubitative, and presumptive. What call it volitional - this is completely wrong. – user1602 May 03 '17 at 18:07
  • Well, I don't believe there is anything known as the volitional form for the English language (as far as I'm aware). There are words, or grammatical constructs which express volition, but no "volitional form". This seems to be an English description used only for Japanese grammar. So, the Japanese grammar it is describing may not be best described as only expressing volition, but if we all agree that the term "volitional form" means the same thing in effect as 未然形, then I don't think there's a problem. I don't know that volitional can be said to be wrong, since it is only used to describe 未然形. – rgolden May 04 '17 at 04:35
  • I do see what you're saying though. There may be better words to use to describe it, but it is also still a subjective thing (at least to a certain extent). – rgolden May 04 '17 at 05:04
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    @uset1602 I'm not sure if you are a native English speaker but "hortative" and "dubitative" are not in the common vernacular and most speakers would not know what they mean. "Volition" on the other hand, while not commonly used, would be understood by most. That is probably the reason. – G-Cam May 04 '17 at 11:45
  • I'd agree with that as well. – rgolden May 04 '17 at 12:03
  • But there is no "volition" in 未然形+う – user1602 May 04 '17 at 17:06
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    行きましょう or やりましょう etc. These do right? – rgolden May 05 '17 at 01:06
  • @user1602 Let's define the word first. Is it unacceptable to you if I say the previous sentence has any kind of "volition"? – broccoli forest May 06 '17 at 03:54
  • See the definition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volition_(linguistics), 行きましょう or やりましょう are cohortative (a call for an action) – user1602 May 06 '17 at 06:49
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    @user1602: Volition, both in the vernacular and in the specifics of academic terminology, is about intent. Your hortative example is about the speaker stating their intent to do something together with the listener. Your dubitative example seems more of a suggesting hortative, as there isn't anything being doubted, but if we extend that to a person talking to themselves, such as 「今日買い物に行こうかな」, that is still about intent. So we have three use cases about intent, and one about supposition. It is thus not surprising that English-language materials often call this form the volitional. – Eiríkr Útlendi Feb 18 '20 at 16:56
  • @ Eiríkr Útlendi, your comment could be the best answer. Maybe you should post so I can accept it. – user1602 Feb 19 '20 at 07:49
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I think @rgolden has a very good point about simplifying a complex grammatical concept for beginners. If the authors of a Japanese grammar book are linguists (and I assume you are specifically referring to books where the intended audience speak English as a primary or secondary language), using technical terms to describe differences that many native English speakers cannot readily identify would not be very helpful. If the authors are not linguists, then it's possible they are just misinformed.

In the end, the result is the same: The learner is introduced to a common grammatical construction in a way that they can readily understand and apply. If the learner is interested in going deeper, they will eventually need to consult Japanese grammar books written for Japanese speakers.

aonophoenix
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  • The problem with using an incorrect term for referring to any phenomena (linguistic or non-linguistic) is that it only makes more difficult to understand the phenomena. It makes it even more confusing when different authors use different terminology for the same concept. In this case the term "volitional" is completely misleading. Ask a random native English speaker what comes to their mind when they hear term "volitional" and judge by yourself if this term was chosen correctly to refer to three irrealis cases in Japanese. – user1602 May 03 '17 at 22:02
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    @user1602 You're right, in the long run, it may make learning the language more difficult, but in the short run at least the learner can get a basic idea of the grammar and start trying to express themselves. I think you have to strike a balance. In the early years of (American) English education for native speakers, they learn "rules" that are not actually true, but generalize and simplify English grammar. Two examples: (1) Sentences cannot start with a conjunction (2) Always use complete sentences. These are not rules, but they are taught as such because you have to start with the basics. – aonophoenix May 04 '17 at 03:52
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Volition, both in the vernacular and in the specifics of academic terminology, is about intent.

Hortative

  • The example above is about the speaker stating their intent to do something together with the listener.

    Let's go!
    行きましょう！

Dubitative

  • The dubitative example seems more of a suggesting hortative, as there isn't anything being doubted:

    Shall we go?
    行きましょうか。

... but if we extend that to a person talking to themselves, such as 「今日買い物に行こうかな」, that is still about intent.

Presumptive

  • This does appear to be a distinct sense, separate from any question of intent.

    He is probably a teacher.
    多分先生でしょう。

Intentive / Intentional

  • Separately from the examples in the comments above, there's also the straightforward intentional use case.

    今晩テレビ見よう [と思う]。

So we have three use cases about intent, and one about supposition or presumption. It is thus not surprising that English-language materials often call this form the volitional. See also the Wikipedia article about Japanese verbs, specifically the section that describes the volitional. This includes mention of the conjectural and hortative uses mentioned in the initial post.

Please comment if the above does not address your question.

Eiríkr Útlendi
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