Friday, December 27, 2019

word choice - Using なるほど (naruhodo) and やっぱり (yappari) in the same situation


I know, since they are of different word classes, なるほど (naruhodo) and やっぱり (yappari) may not be used interchangeably within the same sentence, but can they be used within the same situation instead?


Does it make sense if the same person says the following two statements one after another?




やっぱりそうだったねえ。なるほど。



Or maybe the other way around



なるほど。やっぱりそうだったねえ。



Or are they mutually exclusive?


EDIT:


After reading answer from Derek, and after pondering on it for some time, I realized that what I actually wanted to ask also includes the following:




Are there any situations where we can use なるほど but not やっぱり, or vice versa?



Sorry for the confusion.



Answer



In this example, やっぱり functions as something like "as I thought" and shows that the speaker had a preexisting suspicion that a certain matter was indeed true. なるほど shows that a greater understanding of the surrounding context has been gained from the confirmation of the fact referred to by そう. So yes, it does make sense.


EDIT (for the updated question)


I can't think of any examples where なるほど could be swapped with やっぱり, or vice versa. In my mind, なるほど and やっぱり are in different categories. I have to partially disagree with one of Amanda's comments by pointing out that なるほど doesn't have the same "I should have guessed" meaning as やっぱり. It can, however, mean "That makes sense." なるほど merely shows that your mental picture of something (for instance, a course of events, the inner workings of a machine, or the reasoning leading to a certain conclusion) has been filled in by what you were just told. You wouldn't use なるほど when someone is stating a simple fact ("I like ice cream," "I'm not good at playing the piano," etc), but you would when that fact is part of a surrounding context through which the speaker intends to draw you to a greater understanding of the current topic of conversation.


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