Meaning of ～という

N

nonezumi

先輩

28 Aug 2010

208

1

• 23 Feb 2011

• #1

Hello,

If it is possible, please, kindly, help me to find out meaning of ～という in the sentence below:

くまの足がアスファルトを踏む、かすかなしゃりしゃりという音だけが規則正しく響く。

Maybe it is possible to translate it as:

Only sound of bear feet stepping on asphalt was regularly heard.

But I not sure how to put ～という into the translation. Dictionary says that it can mean "I heard". But same fact already described by 響く. So I am little bit confused.

Thank you very much.

 

srintuar

支離滅裂

2 Jul 2006

72

2

• 23 Feb 2011

• #2

In this case its serving as "like" or "kind of"

... A faint "sharishari" kindof sound...

I wonder why the sound follow rules... perhaps they are in a fantastic location or there is some reason that the footsteps might not make sound?

 

N

nonezumi

先輩

28 Aug 2010

208

1

• 23 Feb 2011

• Thread starter
• #3

srintuarさん、

Thank you very much for your kind help.

Before there were another sentences:

たいへん暑い。
It was sweltering.

田では働く人も見えない。
No one could be seen working in paddies, either.

Somehow I had very familiar image. Not exactly I am walking near rice paddies often... But when it is so hot as air became to jitter, sounds could be unusually sharp.

I was excited by しゃりしゃり, that has meaning of " sound of two hard thin objects rubbing together", so image of sharp sounds easily get into my mind.

But it is only my interpretation, and it likely to be wrong.

:sorry:

 

Glenn

一切皆苦

8 Jan 2004

7,842

200

• 23 Feb 2011

• #4

I'm pretty sure 規則正しく would mean "at regular intervals" here, like you could set a metronome to the sound of the footsteps. It's more like "in good order" than it is "going by the rules". See:

(2)法則。秩序。
「―正しい」
http://www.weblio.jp/content/規則

しゃりしゃり gave me the impression that it was the claws rubbing on the asphalt. I'm not sure how accurate that is, though. I'd like to hear what Toritoribe has to say about this one.

 

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Moderator

Fifteen-year veteran

22 Feb 2008

18,266

4,926

• 23 Feb 2011

• #5

Yeah, I think that that interpretation is correct. She didn't say about the footstep's sound of herself.
The author would want to emphasize that the location is quiet enough to hear that sound easily. (By the way, she wrote the sentences in the present tense to make the readers feel that it happens simultaneously as if we were experiencing it ourselves.)

 

N

nonezumi

先輩

28 Aug 2010

208

1

• 23 Feb 2011

• Thread starter
• #6

Toritoribeさん、Glennさん、

Thank you very much for your kind help.