what exactly is "体言止{たいげんど}め"?

Question

There is some discussion about "体言止め{たいげんどめ}" on the internet, but it is all in Japanese. My Japanese ability is too low to be able to read it, so I need some help.

At the least, "体言止め" refers to ending a sentence with a サ変名詞{へんめいし} and omitting the "をする". "体言止め" is more than just this, but I'm not sure what.

"体言止め" translates to "ending a sentence with a noun or a noun phrase." But, I hope a little more context could be provided.

Answer 1

The term 体言止め refers to ending a sentence with a 体言. So, what's a 体言?

In Japanese school grammar, a 体言{たいげん} is a type of word which has the following traits:

1. It is an independent word. (It does not depend on another word, like 助詞 or 助動詞 do.)
2. It does not inflect. (In other words, it has only one form.)
3. It can be the subject of a sentence.

At a minimum, this includes at least 名詞{めいし} (nouns) and 代名詞{だいめいし} (pronouns), though some definitions include other word classes as well. For example, 明鏡 says that some theories include 形容動詞の語幹 (what many learners call な-adjectives, but without the な), apparently ignoring the third requirement. Most commonly people use 体言 to refer to nouns, though.

In any case, 体言止め is a fairly simple concept—ending a sentence with a 体言. That means:

• Your example of omitting をする is 体言止め because the word before をする is a 体言.
• Omitting だ or である (etc.) at the end of a sentence can be 体言止め for the same reason.
• You can also form 体言止め by inverting the normal word order: 「星が輝く」 → 「輝く星」

And so on. Dictionaries say that it was originally mainly a stylistic poetic device, appearing in 和歌 and 俳句 and so forth, but it's certainly not limited to poetry. You'll also see it in advertisements, in magazine articles, in the news, in documentaries, and all over, really. It can be used for effect, or it can simply be used to make your writing more compact.

If you do end a sentence with a 体言, make sure that whatever words you're omitting can be inferred from context.