# 母が語りかけているのが聞こえない



## YeatsK

Hello,

I am trying to break down this sentence. Could someone help me out? It's from a poem by Itoi Shigesato.

In the poem, the narrator is, I think, asking someone what it is they expect from the sky, the clouds, flowers, and love whenever they call to it, write of it etc...

Then this line appears. 無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけているのが聞こえない君に
I've translated it as, 
1)"You who does not listen, a mother of few words speaks to you, more than the sky, the clouds, flowers, and love" 
2)"A mother of few words speaks, more than the sky, the clouds, flowers, and love, but you do not listen."


I tried breaking down the sentence in the two following ways
  1) *[**無口な母が]*　[空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも] *[語りかけているのが聞こえない君に]*
  2) *[**無口な母が]*　[空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも] *[語りかけているのが]*[聞こえない君に]

In short, is the second [が] referring to the "mother" or "kimi"? Or are both my attempts incorrect?


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## SoLaTiDoberman

『無口な母が,空(が君に語りかける）よりも雲(が君に語りかける）よりも花(が君に語りかける）よりも愛(が君に語りかける）よりも（君に）語りかけている』のが聞こえない君に
I think 2 is the correct choice.


This is not a completely sentence, but a clause (or not even a clause, but a part of a sentence). The basic structure is "To you."

無口な母が語りかけているのが聞こえない君に（（私が）アドバイスしてあげましょう。）is a completely sentence, and the latter half is abbreviated for some reason. Readers have to guess the latter half because the context for the latter half is not shown here.

(This advice is) For you who doesn't listen to your mother of few words speaking more to you than the sky, the clouds, flowers and love.

To you who doesn't listen to your mother of few words speaking more to you than the sky, the clouds, flowers and love.

The context, however, seems obvious.
You don't listen to your mother. She seems to be a person of few words, but actually, she speaks more to you than the sky, the cloud, flowers and love.* So you should listen to your mother's words.

*Without more context, the main point of the writer seems the last bold letter sentence.

I'm not sure whether the mother is already dead or she is living far away or something else.
But I guess that the mother passed away from the tone of the poem.
In that case, the last sentence is:
*So you can listen to (or feel) your mother's words even today.*


edit)  The latter half was quite the opposite from my guess, and the whole meaning was quite different.
Taking the new information (#8) into consideration, I'll change the translation:
>無口な母が　空よりも
>語りかけているのが聞こえない君に
>空が　なにをしてくれるというのだろう

*What can the sky do for you who doesn't even listen to your usually-only-few-words-speaking mother is speaking more than that sky?*

(No matter how long you see the sky, it would be useless.
Even though your mother is a person of few words, she can be more helpful to you. Yet, you don't even listen to your mother. You should ask to your mother.)


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## frequency

Very nice!

Yes _You who does not listen to_. Of what? The rest of the block: 無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている.

のが works to take 無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている, and thus joins to 聞こえない君に.
無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている is what he doesn't listen to.

I humbly suggest you that might be better if:
[無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている][のが][聞こえない君へ→に]

のが works as a conjunction, but the first が works with 母.
So as you wondered, the two が (or が and のが) work differently. BTW, I like your 1.

YangMuye,
Is this のが, or の・が？


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## 810senior

Hello, YeatsK!

My attempt: *For you who doesn't listen to a mother of few words, speaking to more than the sky, clouds, flowers and love. *(this sentence is incomplete so we don't know what's for the listener who his or her mother speaks to)

The structure of the sentence: （無口な母が） _空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも _（語りかけているのが聞こえない）君に
無口な母が語りかけているのが聞こえない(to not listen to a mother of few words speaking) modifies the 君, what's more, 君 is the subject of the modifying clause. (c.f. *君は*無口な母が語りかけているのが聞こえない, *you *don't listen to a mother speaking to you)

"空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも" is a parenthesis.
You can leave it out and it doesn't make the supposed intention of the sentence different.


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## YeatsK

SoLaTiDoberman, Frequency, and 810senior, thank you for your insights!

So, because the sentence is incomplete, the 「*に*」can either be introducing _new information _or _reflecting back_ on 「無口な母が語りかけている」?

In either case, are we in agreement that the 「のが」brings 「無口な母が語りかけている」(a mother of few words is speaking) and「聞こえない君」(you who doesn't listen) together? "*To you who doesn't listen to a mother of few words speaking*..."?


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## 810senior

I'm not quite sure what に exactly points to here in the sentence because there is no word indicating this.
As far as I think, it sounds to me "to me*(僕に)*" in the "you talk to me with a smile(君は笑顔で*僕に*声をかける)", as particle for expressing indirect object.


のが is accompanied with 聞こえない, so it says what he or she doesn't hear or listen to.
In this case, the speaker *doesn't *hear a mother speaking to him.

>君は 無口な母が語りかけているのが 聞こえない(non modified sentence)
You(subject) *a mother of few words speaks to(object)* doesn't hear(verb)
→ You doesn't hear a mother of few words speaks to you.

>無口な母が語りかけているのが聞こえない / 君(modified sentence)
*a mother of few words(subject)* speaks to(verb1, the subject is* a mother*) doesn't hear(verb2, in accordance with *you*) you(head noun)
→ You who doesn't hear a mother of few words speaks to


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## frequency

YeatsK said:


> So, because the sentence is incomplete, the 「*に*」can either be introducing _new information _or _reflecting back_ on 「無口な母が語りかけている」?



No, that is not an incomplete sentence. に in that one? This is when I (frequency) talk to you like this:
_To you (YeatsK) who study Japanese hard, I (frequency) have something to tell..._
Ah introducing new information later the sentence.




YeatsK said:


> In either case, are we in agreement that the 「のが」brings 「無口な母が語りかけている」(a mother of few words is speaking) and「聞こえない君」(you who doesn't listen) together?


Yes. How can I say..you've made two sentences:
聞こえない君に and
無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている.
We need glue to attach them. のが works so.


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## Cowrie

Hi! I googled and checked the whole poem. One complete sentence that can be extracted from there is this: 
無口な母が　空よりも
語りかけているのが聞こえない君に
空が　なにをしてくれるというのだろう

The main part of the above extracted sentence is 君に　空が　なにをしてくれるというのだろう. All the other part (無口な母が　空よりも　語りかけているのが聞こえない) modifies 君, and its simpler form is 母が語りかけているのが聞こえない. 

From my perspective, the part 母が語りかけているのが is working like the object of 聞こえない. のが is suggesting so. 

So, 


YeatsK said:


> "*To you who doesn't listen to a mother of few words speaking*..."?


I think you are on the right track. 

That said, I believe it’s up to you whether to change the structure of the original language, particularly when it comes to poems and lyrics, as long as you are aware that you are doing it on purpose.


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## YeatsK

Thank you, all of you who put in your two-cents. This has been very helpful.
Cowrie, thanks for going that extra mile to look up the poem in its entirety. I now see how 君に works with the following stanza.

Thanks again!


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## frequency

To you who said thank you, I still have something to correct.

の works to bind 無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている in order to make one block.

無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけている
See this is still a sentence. But
無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけているの
By adding の, this becomes the block to be taken. It stops being a sentence anymore.

See が is picking up this block and connecting to 聞こえない君に.

I correct mine, not yours:
[無口な母が　空よりも雲よりも花よりも愛よりも 語りかけているの][が][聞こえない君に]

This が still works differently to が with 母.
Sorry for my noisy additional post!


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## YeatsK

Frequency,
thank you for the clarification. It's not noisy at all. 
I really appreciate it. : )


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