Why use あんなに instead of こんなに when expressing one's memories?


My textbook contains the following dialog where 鈴木さん interviews her 課長 about
what he did last evening:

> 鈴木「焼き鳥屋ですか。 **その** 店、いかがでしたか。」  
>  課長「安くて、おいしかったよ。 **あんなに** おいしい焼き鳥を食べたのは初めてだなあ。」  
>  鈴木「 **そんなに** おいしかったんですか。」

My previous understanding of こそあど was that

  * こ refers to something closer to the speaker than the listener,
  * そ refers to something closer to the listener than the speaker, and
  * あ refers to something equally distant to both the speaker and the listener.

From this, I would think that the tastiness of the 焼き鳥 is much closer to the
部長 (he was there and had them, 鈴木さん was not), and, therefore that he would use
**こんなに** おいしい, but my textbook says (but doesn't explain why) to use あんなに when
talking about one's memories of a past experience.

To put it differently, I thought that **あんなに** おいしい would be appropriate if
both 鈴木さん and her 部長 had been at the 焼き鳥屋 together. I interpret 鈴木さん's
response, **そんなに** おいしかった, in the same way, that the experience is closer to
the 部長 because she wasn't there.

Could someone explain the point I'm missing? Thank you.




Like you say こ～ means close to the speaker, so

> こんなにおいしい。

would be appropriate, when he is actually eating the food, e.g.

> こんなにおいしいとは思わなかった。  
>  I never thought it'd be _this_ good.

* * *

そ～ means close to the listener.

> そんなにおいしかったの？  
>  It was _that_ good?

* * *

あ～ means far from both the listener and the speaker (in my opinion not
necessarily equidistant).

> あんなにおいしい焼き鳥を食べたのは初めてだった。  
>  First time I had 焼き鳥 _that_ good.

At the time of speaking the tasty 焼き鳥 is far from both the speaker and the
listener. Here far doesn't necessarily mean far in terms of distance, but
could be far in time. Then memories are always far from both listener and
speaker and あんなに is usually appropriate.

In English, too, using "this" for memories does not work.




This should fall under the anaphoric usage of the demonstrative series1, which
is slightly different from the ordinary usage of the こそあど:

Ordinarily, こ～ is used for "nearer to speaker"; そ～ for "nearer to listener";
and あ～ for "removed from both".

But for this discussion, the こ-series is used as if the object being brought
to the conversation is visible and present with the speaker. The listener is
unable to use これ to refer to the object even though in the ordinary use of the
これ, both the speaker and listener are able to. Once both speaker and listener
establish that the object is well-known by both of them in the discourse the
use of あ～ takes over, and the use of こ～ becomes unacceptable.

The そ-series is used when the speaker perceives that the listener does not
know the referent of the demonstrative; the speaker refers to the
knowledge/experience that he perceives that the listener is not familiar with.

The あ-series is used when the speaker perceives both himself and listener to
know the referent of the demonstrative; the anaphoric demonstrative refers to
the shared knowledge or experience between them.

I'll try to fit the case given within the above analysis1.

* * *

> 鈴木「焼き鳥屋ですか。その店、いかがでしたか。」

In this line, その is used ordinarily. その refers to the 焼き鳥屋 that 部長 had
mentioned in a previous context.

* * *

> From this, I would think that the tastiness of the 焼き鳥 is much closer to the
> 部長 (he was there and had them, 鈴木さん was not), and, therefore that he would
> use こんなにおいしい, but my textbook says (but doesn't explain why) to use あんなに
> when talking about one's memories of a past experience.

By using あんなに, the speaker(部長) perceives that the knowledge of the extent of
tastiness is shared (even though it may not necessarily be so).

I think the 部長 is referring to a shared maximum point; that what one human
thinks is a great extent of tastiness is not too different from another human,
therefore the use of あんなに is reasonable.  
(This is not too unreasonable a perception. If you allow me to reverse the
polarity, I think if something is " _that_ disgusting" then there would be a
reasonably large majority that would agree on the extent of disgust. So if
something was " _that_ delicious", it tends to conjure a maximum deliciousness
image)

* * *

> 鈴木「そんなにおいしかったんですか。」

そんなに is used ordinarily, and refers to the 部長's last comment; the extent of
how the 焼き鳥 was delicious. The usage of そんなに is not different from the use of
その in その店. It refers to something last said by the other person.

* * *

1 Chapter 24 of _The Structure of the Japanese Language_ , Susumu Kuno.

