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「臭う」 and 「臭いがする」 have the same meaning, but can this be generalize?

according to google: 臭いがする (49-m hits); 話しがする (17-m hits); 笑いがする (31-m hits);
踊りがする (5-m hits); ...

But, a Japanese scholar told me that, except for 「臭いがする」、"verb stem" + がする is
incorrect grammar. I am not convinced. Can someone help me sort this out? To
start with, I bet that the verb must be intransitive.
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2013-09-24T16:56:03.373
12923
2013-10-04T03:55:55.960
2013-09-24T17:03:19.087
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question
verbs
does the structure「(verb stem)がする」 exist?
Xがする is often used for environmental senses.

臭い in 臭いがする is actually a noun and not a verb stem. For some other examples
you can also say these things:

•(いい)香りがする

•明かりがする (maybe?)

•(いい)味がする
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2013-09-24T17:40:31.840
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2013-09-24T17:40:31.840
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answer
The word する as a stand-alone verb can be either intransitive as in 変な味がする
("This tastes strange.") or transitive as in 話をする ("to study"), and can also
be analyzed as an auxiliary verb that looks like a full-fledged verb as in
日本語を話せはするが上手くない (I speak Japanese a little but not very well). Of course, it
can be used with a stem word to form a "X-suru"-type irregular verb (or, more
precisely,
[サ変動詞](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E8%A1%8C%E5%A4%89%E6%A0%BC%E6%B4%BB%E7%94%A8))
as in 取引する ("to make a transaction").

Each class of this verb has various different uses, each of which has multiple
sub-categories. Technically, する in 臭いがする is one of the intransitive uses. In a
broader sense, this intransitive use appears when the speaker refers to
something along the line of a phenomenon, event and symptom. The 臭いがする case
falls into one subcategory of this particular intransitive use, where Xがする
roughly means "to sense X through a sensory organ." So, X in this subcategory
of this particular intransitive use is typically smell, taste, sound, physical
feel (felt by your skin), and the like. jlptn1's answer list some typical
examples of Ｘがする in this subcategory.

This particular intransitive use has more subcategories. A very common one
takes a "symptom" for X, e.g., headache (頭痛がする), dizziness (めまいがする), and
tinnitus (耳鳴りがする). Another common subcategory has an "emotion" or "feeling" as
X, such as loneliness (寂しい思いがする).

Among many other intransitive uses of する, there is another common one that
quite frequently takes the form of Xがする, where it carries the sense that
something has a certain quality or property. A typical example would be 見劣りがする
(looks inferior/poorer/worse). But this subcategory is further divided into
sub-subcategories, one of which uses が before する and the other of which takes
の. When to use が and when to use の is well beyond the scope of the question,
so I'll stop here.

When する is a transitive verb, X in the form of Xがする must be the doer of the
action. So by definition, the verb form of X, if exists, doesn't mean the same
thing as Xがする in general.

So, in an intransitive case, X in Xがする may happen to have a verb form as in 臭う
for 臭いがする. But this does not mean you can generalize the form of Xがする to other
words that have verb versions. If I were asked to give a systematic
description of Xがする, it would look like this:

する can be

  1. _Intransitive verb_
    * _Usage 1_ :  
Speaker refers to phenomenon, event, symptom, etc.

      * _Subcategory 1_ :  
**Takes form of Xがする** ,  
X is sensed through sensory organ,  
X is smell, taste, sound, feel (felt by your skin), etc.  
Examples: 臭いがする and 味がする.

      * _Subcategory 2_ :  
**Takes form of Xがする** ,  
X is symptom of some sort,  
Examples: headache (頭痛がする), dizziness (めまいがする), and tinnitus (耳鳴りがする)

      * _Subcategory 3_ :  
**Takes form of Xがする** ,  
X is emotion or feeling,  
Examples: loneliness (寂しい思いがする) and uneasiness (胸騒ぎがする)

    * _Usage 2_ :  
Speaker refers to quality, property, etc.  

      * _Subcategory_ :  
**Takes form of Xがする or Xのする** ,  
X is quality, property, etc.  
Example of Xがする case: 見劣りがする (looks inferior/poorer/worse)  
Note: The issue of が vs. の is complicated.

    * _Many other usages_ :  
Do **not** take form of Xがする.

  2. _Transitive verb_
    * _Many usages_ :  
Do **not** take form of Xがする by definition of "transitive verb" unless X is
the doer.  
Verb form of X, if exists, does not mean Xがする in general.

  3. _Auxiliary verb_
    * _Many usages_ :  
Do **not** take form of Xがする.

  4. _Part of compound verb_  
Do **not** take form of Xがする by definition.
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2013-09-25T04:09:27.900
12929
2013-10-04T03:55:55.960
2013-10-04T03:55:55.960
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answer