#4 村田沙耶香『コンビニ人間』
コンビニエンスストアは、音で満ちている。客が入ってくるチャイムの音に、店内を流れる有線放送で新商品を宣伝するアイドルの声。店員の掛け声に、バーコードをスキャンする音。かごに物を入れる音、パンの袋が握られる音に、店内を歩き回るヒールの音。全てが混ざり合い、「コンビニの音」になって、私の鼓膜にずっと触れている。
A convenience store is full of sounds. From the sound of the chime when a customer enters, to the voice of the teen celebrity advertising a new product over the cable broadcast playing in the store. From the hollers of the store workers, to the sound of bar codes being scanned. From the sound of things being put into baskets, and the sound of a bag of bread being grabbed, to the sound of high heels walking around the store. They all mix together to form ‘the sound of the konbini’, and it strokes my eardrums relentlessly.
Vocabulary:
村田沙耶香 むらたさやか Murata Sayaka (author, 1979-)
音 おと sound
満ちる みちる to fill up
客 きゃく customer
チャイム doorbell, chime (of a supermarket or store)
店内 てんない in the store
流れる ながれる to play (music)
有線放送 ゆうせんほうそう cable broadcast
新商品 しんしょうひん new product
宣伝する せんでんする to advertise
アイドル young female celebrity
声 こえ voice
店員 てんいん store clerk
掛け声 かけごえ holler, call
かご basket
袋 ふくろ bag
握る にぎる to clutch, to grab, to squeeze
歩き回る あるきまわる to walk around
ヒール high heeled shoes
全て すべて everything
混ざり合う まざりあう to mix together
コンビニ convenience store, konbini
鼓膜 こまく eardrum
ずっと ceaselessly, relentlessly
触れる ふれる to touch, to stroke, to caress
Grammar:
~に
The particle に has many functions, but is used here to sum up many things. Different from the particle と, which is also used to sum up nouns, it has the connotation of ‘in addition to’, giving the impression of a vertical rather than a horizontal enumeration.
歩き回る
Notice that this verb is accompanied by the object particle を, not the particle for action in a place で. Remember that this is true for most verbs of movement: 山を登る (to climb a mountain), 空を飛ぶ (to fly through the air), 街を散歩する (to take a walk in the city), etc.
Bonus:
Notice how subjectivity is given to sounds instead of humans. The fact that any type of human agency has been removed from the description of the convenience store is key to understanding the rest of this novel.