I'm pretty sure I understand the usage of「である」 here:

> ピアニストである私{わたし}の姉{あね}は、いつも手{て}に怪我{けが}をしないように気{き}をつけています

My sister, a pianist, is always careful not to injure her hands. (My
translation)

But I'm wondering if that usage is appropriate in all cases. For one, my
understanding is that「である」is literary-sounding and wouldn't typically be used
in speech. Is that the case here, or is that only relevant in the sentence-
ending case? Are there other alternatives with the same meaning? For instance,
could something like「のある」 or「の」be used in place of that「である」?
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2013-01-07T02:32:48.133
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question
usage adjectives copula
Usage of noun-modifying である
This is not an answer but a collection of comments based on my personal
feeling, but I post it as an answer because it is too long for a comment.

First, here are two clear facts:

  * のある simply does not have the same meaning as である. ピアニストのある私の姉 is incorrect.
  * Replacing AであるB with AのB sometimes causes ambiguity. For example, ピアニストの姉 can mean either “(my) sister, who is a pianist” or “a sister of a pianist” depending on the context.

Now I will move on to a less clear part.

I agree with you that AであるB sounds a little too formal for a casual
conversation (although I would not call it “literary”). In a casual
conversation, I would probably avoid a relative clause in this case and say
something along the following.

> 姉がピアニストなんだけど、いつも手に怪我をしないように気を付けているよ。  
>  My sister is a pianist, and she is always careful not to injure her hands.

The same meaning as AであるB can be also expressed by AのB in some cases, and I
agree that AのB can be less formal than AであるB. But in your case, I find using の
in place of である less natural:

> ? ピアニストの私の姉は、いつも手に怪我をしないように気を付けています。

Unfortunately, I do not know why I feel it less natural than ピアニストである私の姉.
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2013-01-07T16:08:44.623
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My thought went along the line of Tsuyoshi's, but here is another comment:

On top of である being a bit more formal, I also feel that である tends to be used
more in nonrestrictive relative clauses, whereas の tends to be used more in
restrictive relative clauses:

> ピアニストである姉は… My sister, who is a pianist, ... (nonrestrictive use)  
>  ピアニストとドラマーの姉がいるんだけど、ピアニストの姉は… I have a sister who is a pianist and one who
> is a drummer. My _pianist_ sister ... (restrictive use)

This isn't a hard rule, just tendencies that I feel. Obviously this will
sometimes clash with the "である is more formal" pattern, so if you wanted to use
a nonrestrictive relative clause in colloquial speech, e.g.

> I, being a pianist, ...

the restrictive/nonrestrictive tendency might speak in favor of

> ピアニストである私は…

whereas the formality of である might speak in favor of

> ピアニストの私は…

Read
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_relative_clauses#Restrictive_or_non-
restrictive) if you're unsure about the restrictiveness thing.
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2013-01-08T01:35:06.567
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answer