Re: japanese particles (Was: Chinese writing systems)

> I'm a non-native, natch, but I almost *never* heard "e" in Japan. For
> me, "e" implies longer distances and longer times of duration. As
> Amanda points out, it's fuzzy stuff, but I feel weird saying "ginkoo e
> itte kimasu" (I'm going to the bank (and'll be back)); I'd be more
> likely to say "ginkoo ni itte kimasu". The classic example, "gakkoo e
> ikimasu" (I'm going to school), is, of course, grammatically
> acceptable *and* interchangeable with "gakkoo ni ikimasu" (which is
> more within my comfort zone). Since I'm now in Boston, "Tookyoo e
> ikimasu" is a viable utterance, but when I lived in Iizuka, "Fukuoka e
> ikimasu" (an hour away) would've sounded affected to me.
> Kou
While I agree with you about the likelihood of incorporating _ni_ over _e_,
I disagree with you about the comment that _e_ is never heard in Japan.
The particle _e_ is very much alive and put to work in Tokyo.  In fact, I
sense that it is the preferred particle in cases where the other (_ni_) is
already functioning in the same utterance for another meaning.  Bare with
me on my examples, as I don't have my walking dictionary boyfriend at hand
so I'm ad-libbing according to my own years of experience here (although in
gaijin-terms)

* Dare ni mo ataerarenai kanjyou wa kare e dake miseta (I showed only to
him the affection that I cannot give to just anyone).

Here's the same example written in a different way (I just asked the
internet cafe Japanese girl to read mine above, she laughed and said it is
grammatically correct but quite difficult - a bit literary - and offered me
the same way to say it but in colloquial term)

* Kare ni dake boku no dare ni mo misenai kanjyou wo ataerareta (I gave to
only him the affection that I cannot show anyone).

In these examples, Kou's theory that _e_ is archaic is justified as you can
see that the internet girl's rendition makes use of two _ni_s.  However,
_e_ is possible.

Perhaps another, better, example would clarify.

* Yuumei na sakka ni sakusei sareta e

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