というか〜というか
- 1Gives two alternative ways of describing one person or thing, suggesting it lies somewhere between them or is both.Ex. 1
- 2Shows the speaker cannot pin down exactly how to characterize a situation, often followed by a summing-up word such as とにかく.Ex. 2
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Common in conversation and informal writing when the speaker is searching for the right words to describe one subject. The sentence typically closes with a wrap-up such as そんな人だ or とにかく…. Unlike a single というか or というより, it does not choose between A and B, and unlike list patterns it does not name separate items.
Do not use it to list separate, different items; A and B must be alternative descriptions of the same thing.
Note that the sentence usually needs a concluding clause after the second というか to sum up the point.
Note that the hesitation concerns wording, not conviction; the conclusion after the second というか can still be a firm, emphatic judgment.
- というかN2Used alone, 「というか」 first offers one phrasing and then switches to a more fitting one, with the latter being the version that counts, whereas 「というか〜というか」 sets the two phrasings side by side with neither clearly ahead. 「というか」 leans colloquial, can also open a sentence, and appears in the variants 「ていうか」 and 「てか」.
- というよりN3「というより」 means 'not so much A as B': it drops A in favor of B, judging B the more apt description, and it can also stand at the head of a sentence as a connective. 「というか〜というか」 instead keeps the two phrasings on equal footing, simply signaling that the matter is hard to pin down, so the two are not interchangeable.
- 〜やら〜やらN1「やら」 can list different things, implying a messy jumble of them—something 「というか」 cannot do. When feelings are listed the two are close, but 「やら」 shows several emotions intermingling at once, while 「というか」 focuses on weighing which word fits better.
- だの〜だのN2「だの〜だの」 lists different examples while implying there are more, tends to carry dissatisfaction, and often appears before 「と言う」 to relay someone else's complaints. 「というか〜というか」 instead rephrases one and the same thing while weighing the wording, in a neutral register, so the two are not interchangeable.
- とかN5「とか」 lists a few different examples while implying there are others, and it can also convey hearsay, with a strong colloquial flavor. 「というか〜というか」 instead offers two phrasings for the same thing to signal that its nature is hard to determine precisely, so the two are not interchangeable.
A single というか rephrases or corrects a statement ('or rather'), and というより says B is more accurate than A, whereas this pattern offers two alternatives without choosing between them. 〜やら〜やら, だの〜だの and とか list separate examples from a larger set, while というか〜というか gives alternative labels for one thing.
