How do I read 係?

Question

I came across these sentences in the same manga.

[1] よつばはこびがかりな！

[2] しんぶんとってくるかかりか？

[3] よつばちゃん新聞係？

I'm guessing it's　係 "person in charge" in these sentences. Is it がかり whenever it is a verb stem / noun like はこび ? And かかり for everything else, such as verb clauses like しんぶんとってくる that modify it? So I'm guessing the third sentence is 新聞[係]{がかり}.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '20 at 04:07

係 as a noun on its own is read かかり, but 係 in a compound noun is read がかり due to rendaku. So yes, 新聞係 is read しんぶんがかり.

運ぶ係 is a fairly ordinary phrase made of a noun and a relative clause modifying it, so 係 is read かかり because it's a standalone noun. On the other hand, 運び係 is essentially a noun-noun compound, so 係 is read がかり. (As you probably know, the masu-stem works like a noun.)

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 11 '20 at 18:01

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I think your understanding is correct. In Japanese elementary schools students are assigned to a 係. Like 給食を運ぶ係（給食係）黒板をキレイにする係（黒板係）. Although 新聞係 is more formal than 新聞を運ぶ係.

answered May 11 '20 at 18:01

Ryuichi

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質問者は、「係」の読み方について、どういうときに連濁が起こって「かかり」が「がかり」になるかをお尋ねなので、そのあたりの法則について説明してくださるとありがたいと思うのですが。 – chocolate May 12 '20 at 00:26

How do I read 係?

2 Answers2