Switch between transitives and intransitives


There are situations where transitives and intransitives are switched without
any clear reason. For example, a transitive verb is usually used to describe a
situation like this:

> タクシーが街を流す

rather than the logically more reasonable intransitive version:

> タクシーが街を流れる

* * *

I am not particularly discussing the availability of the latter, and to
compare the frequency of these forms is totally irrelevant to my question, but
suppose you want to do an estimate. I know of a search engine called Google,
which, at this moment, returns 35 hits for the string for the illogical
"タクシーが流す", most of which are the relevant phrases, and 14 hits for the string
for the logical "タクシーが流れる", of which 7 are the relevant phrases (excluding
this very question), so that indicates that the illogical form is used almost
five times the logical form ( **keeping aside the hits made by another
"Google" that I am not aware of, which returns 16,700 results for the
illogical "タクシーが流す" and 507,000 results for the logical "タクシーが流れる", leading to
the opposite conclusion, according to a user of this site** ).

* * *

Outside of this peculiar usage, the transitive 流す requires an animate and
volitional _agent_ as the subject, which is distinct from the _theme_ that is
the object, and cannot be used reflexively.

> * そうめんが流す  
>  店員がそうめんを流す  
>  そうめんが流れる
>
> * 気球が空を流す  
>  冒険家のチームが気球を空に流す  
>  気球が空を流れる
>
> * ニュースが電光掲示板を流す  
>  ディレクターがニュースを電光掲示板に流す  
>  ニュースが電光掲示板を流れる

Similarly, in stock exchange contexts, transitive verbs are used instead of
their intransitive counterpart:

> 株が高値をつける  
>  株に高値がつく
>
> 株が引ける  
>  株が引く

On the contrary, when directions are given in cooking, intransitives are used
instead of the more logically appropriate transitives:

> 酒とみりんが入ります  
>  酒とみりんを入れます

Outside of this peculiar context, the intransitive 入る either 1) requires an
animate volitional agent 2) or the sentence has to describe the
potential/ability rather than a single event.

> * 日曜日の晩に辞書がかばんに入ります  
>  日曜日の晩に私が辞書をかばんに入れます  
>  この小さな辞書はかばんに入るけど、この大きいのは入りません

Why do these switching happen?




I do not have a firm hold on what is going on in these sentences, but here are
some observation and speculation.

As for タクシーが街を流す, as I wrote in a comment on the question, I observe that the
structure of the sentence is quite similar to 陸上選手が100メートルを流す. The latter 流す
means something like “exercise lightly,” which I feel some connection to the
meaning of the former 流す, namely “(for a taxi) to cruise looking for a
passenger.”

As for 株が高値を付ける, I consider it as a personification: the stock is usually
inanimate (of course), but in this sentence, it is considered as something
which moves up and down by its own will.

As for 酒とみりんが入ります, it might be the case that the narrator does not want to
describe it as a step which a listener MUST FOLLOW, because doing so may drive
the listener away. Rather, the narrator wants to give the impression that the
step is easy and nothing to worry about, by describing it as something which
happens spontaneously.




I do not have a firm hold on what is going on in these sentences, but here are
some observation and speculation.

As for タクシーが街を流す, as I wrote in a comment on the question, I observe that the
structure of the sentence is quite similar to 陸上選手が100メートルを流す. The latter 流す
means something like “exercise lightly,” which I feel some connection to the
meaning of the former 流す, namely “(for a taxi) to cruise looking for a
passenger.”

As for 株が高値を付ける, I consider it as a personification: the stock is usually
inanimate (of course), but in this sentence, it is considered as something
which moves up and down by its own will.

As for 酒とみりんが入ります, it might be the case that the narrator does not want to
describe it as a step which a listener MUST FOLLOW, because doing so may drive
the listener away. Rather, the narrator wants to give the impression that the
step is easy and nothing to worry about, by describing it as something which
happens spontaneously.

