触れさせていた VS 触れていた

[zuotengdazuo]

十香はその場に座ったまま、不思議そうな顔をして、唇に指を触れさせていた。

Hi. What is the difference between 唇に指を触れさせていた and 唇に指を触れていた?

Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

Just from that single sentence without knowing the background context, I would interpret that 指 refers to a finger of someone else in 触れさせていた, not 十香's.

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Just from that single sentence without knowing the background context, I would interpret that 指 refers to a finger of someone else in 触れさせていた, not 十香's.

Hi. Thank you. But according to the context, it’s 十香 who touched her lips, so the finger was hers.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, judging from the fact that you asked about it, I thought it would be actually the subject's finger. What I meant is to say it's unusual. One of the reasons might be that it's hard to add 指 there. There is no problem with 唇に触れていた. 指で唇に触れていた is acceptable but sounds too objective. Anyway, my impression is that the writer seems to have a tendency to prefer to use causative forms.

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Thank you again.

One of the reasons might be that it's hard to add 指 there.

Do you mean the expression 唇に指を触れていた is unnatural? But I have checked the dictionary and learnt that it’s valid.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, it's valid like 石像に手を触れる, but I personally felt it's not so common. (I found only two examples of ～に指を触れる in a corpus.)

 

[zuotengdazuo]

Thank you again. So do you think 唇に指を触れさせていた would sound more subjective than 唇に指を触れていた? But apart from that, both expressions mean the same, right?

 

[Toritoribe]

The description is both objective. Both are written from the observer's viewpoint. It seems to me that 触れさせていた has a nuance of a volitional action more strongly. The meaning is the same, yes.