Question about i-adjective stem form and がる

Japanese
#1

Example from Bunpro:

怖がらないでね → “don’t feel scared”

I recently learned about the “real” names of the stem forms in Japanese. So now I know that i-adjectives have a 連用形 (continuative) stem form ending in く, and that’s where the conjugations 怖くない and 怖かった come from. (With く changing to かっ for euphony in た-form)

That’s apparently not used in 怖がる. So the rule with がる is to just use the 語幹 (non-inflecting) stem of the word, right? Is there a name for this kind of conjugation? Does this happen with other verbs besides がる?

#2

It is a suffix. With 形容詞 さ and み also come to mind. I believe め is also technically a suffix. Keep in mind that many of the words with these suffixes (or even all “acceptable” ones) have their own dictionary entries and so are considered their own words. In some sense these suffixes are used to turn adjectives into verbs or nouns, much like 的 is used to turn 名詞 into 形容動詞 or らしい is used to turn 名詞 into 形容詞. がる is just far less productive than 的 or らしい.

Besides suffixes, some (seeming) 連用形 of adjectives are used as/like nouns. The most common example is 多く - if you have never noticed 多くの then keep your eyes peeled and I promise you’ll notice it sooner rather than later. Normally it is with adjectives that are to do with something measurable in some way. The usage is very limited though, generally.

As for the etymology of all this, I’m afraid I don’t know but I’m also interested in this topic so if someone more knowledgeable wants to add to this discussion then please do. I thought I’d just get the ball rolling. (I’m currently sick so if I wrote something nonsensical then please tell me nicely; it’s quite hard to concentrate)

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#3

Thanks for the explanation.

I found this: Appendix:Japanese prefix and suffix index - Wiktionary and they list only two “suffixes for adjectives”: さ and み.

But looking at kotobank for がる: がるとは？ 意味や使い方 - コトバンク shows that がる clearly a suffix (接尾).

The kotobank page for 怖い: 怖い(コワイ)とは？ 意味や使い方 - コトバンク lists three 派生 (derivations): 怖がる、怖げ、怖さ. So there I see げ・気 which also has its own Bunpro page as an N2 grammar point: Bunpro – Japanese Grammar Explained

Are there other suffixes for 形容詞 besides さ, み, げ, and がる?

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#4

I guess そう is another thing that attaches to the 語幹 (word stem) of adjectives. Wiktionary calls it a suffix, but Bunpro and Kotobank both call it a 助動 (auxiliary verb) and avoid calling it a 接尾 (suffix).

What I’m concluding here, and what I was trying to figure out, is that for verb conjugation, the 語幹 in isolation is never used, but for adjective conjugation, it’s frequently used.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/そう

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#5

I have a hunch about this (something to do with 五段 verbs and 活用語尾) but I want to talk to some 国語の先生 friends about it and get their opinions first. I’ll try report back next week when I have hopefully spoken to them.

In the meantime something you might be interested in researching is how these “words” are broken down according to 学校文法 - for example, which ones count as 単語 or 文節 etc. Maybe it will provide some insights.

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#6

ぶる、めく、っぽい

There is a grammar point for めく, but it doesn’t mention usage with adjectives.

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