Double subject construction?

Question

I've recently been having trouble with constructions that seem to mark two subjects in the same clause. I've only encountered them in ～の方が... constructions, but I can't seem to make sense of them grammatically. Here are some examples: > 1. 当然、都心より郊外のほうが家賃が安い。 (from a vocabulary book) > 2. （人）よりも自分の方が知識があると思う (from アルク) My questions are: why are two subjects allowed here, and are there other constructions in which this happens? So far my thoughts on this are: (a) 方 seems to be a subject, but not have a verb. So maybe this is simply be some kind of relative-clause-like construction with the noun elided away, e.g. 家賃が安い[ところだ] and 知識がある[人だ]. But this seems a little odd - I don't know of anywhere else where this is possible. (b) The second sentence might bracket as （人）よりも自分の方が([blah]と思う), rather than (（人）よりも自分の方が[blah])と思う. This makes perfect sense, but I suspect that the と思う could be removed to leave a valid sentence, so this explanation seems a little spurious. In any case this doesn't explain the first sentence. So I'm a little confused. Any light anyone can shed on this would be great. Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes, this is 複主体、複主語文. There is a main subject のほうがand a sub-subject 家賃が.

As you know, 方（ほう) means "the way" like 方角 direction. And ”の方が” is used when comparing any two items. Let's see your examples.

1. 当然、都心より郊外のほうが家賃が安い。

This sentence's main subject and predicate is 郊外の方が(S)　安い(P)

Then when you explain what is cheap, ''家賃が''is sub-subject.　the rent is cheap

it is comparing 都心　and 郊外.

2. （人）よりも自分の方が知識があると思う 

it is comparing 他人and 自分.

自分の方が is a main subject, and ある is a predicate.

何があるのか？知識が is sub-subject.

と思う　I think that [（人）よりも自分の方が知識がある]clause

Answer 2

I am needing more specific examples of these 'two-subjects-in-the-same clause sentence constructions' in order to help you (The Asian characters may well be the sentence examples. However, I am unfamiliar with this language). Do you mind including the English or American translations of these sentences? Then, I will understand your quandary.