いい人そう。using "seemingly" そう with nouns?


Recently I've been trying to wrap my head around the differences between
「らしい」「よう」「みたい」「そう」.

I thought I was making some progress when I gave this example to a Japanese
friend.

> 知らない人と話しました。そのあと、友達と話す時に

If I wanted to convey what I thought of the stranger to my friend, my guess
was:

> いい人みたい

However, I was also told it was possible to say:

> いい人そうだった

If you google いい人そう or いい人そうだった you will get quite a bit of hits.

Is いい人 actually some sort of compound na-adjective rather than a noun?

Or is this some sort of exception to the rule?




I slept on it and still think it is a great question because you noticed
something as a learner that I had never noticed in all of my life as a
Japanese speaker.

We **DO** say 「いい[人]{ひと}そう」 quite frequently and think nothing of it.

We **DO NOT** , however, really say
「すばらしい人そう」、「[頭]{あたま}のいい人そう」、「[保守的]{ほしゅてき}な人そう」, etc.

Just like 「いい + 人 + そう」, all of those have the same grammatical structure
「adjective + 人 + そう」. So, what makes the difference?

It seems to me that Japanese speakers are unconsciously treating the phrase
「いい人」 as a compound functioning adjectivally in this case. The simplicity and
semantic broadness of the word 「いい」 appear to be making it all possible. In
short, 「いい人そう」 is an exception to the normal grammar standards.

There may be grammarians out there who insist on the ungrammaticality of the
phrase 「いい人そう」 but the truth is people use it and they will understand it if
you use it. It has already won its citizenship.




I slept on it and still think it is a great question because you noticed
something as a learner that I had never noticed in all of my life as a
Japanese speaker.

We **DO** say 「いい[人]{ひと}そう」 quite frequently and think nothing of it.

We **DO NOT** , however, really say
「すばらしい人そう」、「[頭]{あたま}のいい人そう」、「[保守的]{ほしゅてき}な人そう」, etc.

Just like 「いい + 人 + そう」, all of those have the same grammatical structure
「adjective + 人 + そう」. So, what makes the difference?

It seems to me that Japanese speakers are unconsciously treating the phrase
「いい人」 as a compound functioning adjectivally in this case. The simplicity and
semantic broadness of the word 「いい」 appear to be making it all possible. In
short, 「いい人そう」 is an exception to the normal grammar standards.

There may be grammarians out there who insist on the ungrammaticality of the
phrase 「いい人そう」 but the truth is people use it and they will understand it if
you use it. It has already won its citizenship.

