では / たり/ なく

[eeky]

Hi,

1. 何人も空の胃の腑では愛国者たり得ない。

a) What is the difference in this sentence between using では and で?

b) What is the function of たり?


2. この冬は例年になく雪が多かった。

What is this なく?

 

[Toritoribe]

1) a)
contrastive marker

満杯の胃の腑では愛国者たり得るが、空の胃の腑では愛国者たり得ない。

b)
That's a classical auxiliary verb for assertion, equivalent to "であり(from である)". It's close to なり, but たり得ない expresses that the subject can't have characteristics 愛国者 should have as a matter of course.

2)
the -ku form of ない

That's almost an idiom as the meaning of ～とは違い/違って.
e.g.
例年になく ＝ 例年（＝普段の年）とは違い "unlike usual years / unusually"
いつになく ＝ 普段とは違い "unlike always / unlike usual / unusually"

 

[eeky]

Is (1) still correct with で but just "less contrastive"?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, 何人も空の胃の腑で愛国者たり得ない is valid, but the point of the sentence / what the writer wants to say the most becomes unclear in this sentence, so it could sound a little bit awkward.

何人たりとも、空の胃の腑で愛国者たり得ない
何人も空の胃の腑では愛国者たり得ない
何人も空の胃の腑で愛国者たり得ることはできない

These sentences are more natural.

 

[eeky]

OK, thanks.