I never knew the differences between 「~かかわらず」 and 「~かまわず」 and assumed they were more or less the same until I tried saying
*「ソフトの機能にかまわず、。。。」
and was told to use 「かかわらず」.
What am I missing?
〜かまわず is the 〜ず negative form of [構]{かま}う, meaning to "care about/mind/pay attention to". It has an emotional/personal sense to it to.
- 鉛筆で書いても構いませんか1 → May I write with a/in pencil? ("Do you not care if I write in pencil?")
- 彼は身なりのことはかまわない2 → He doesn't care about his appearance.
〜かかわらず is the 〜ず negative form of かかわる, meaning "have to do with/concerning/related to" (関係のある〜・〜について・〜に関して). This is more objective in its use.
- そのことには何もかかわっていません1 → I have nothing to do with the matter.
- それは命にかかわることだ1 → It's a matter of life (and death).
So when you say ソフトの機能にかまわず、。。。
, it sounds like what follows is some kind of emotional relationship to the software, when you were probably going for something like Regardless/Irrespective of the software's functionality, ...
.
1 Examples from プログレッシブ英和・和英中辞典
2 Example from ウィズダム英和辞典/ウィズダム和英辞典
I think the difference can be summarized by the glosses
「〜かかわらず」⇒ "regardless of ~"
「〜かまわず」⇒"without minding ~"
I guess they are somewhat similar, but using one instead of the other does result in a different meaning in every sentence I can think of.
Here's an example where 「〜かかわらず」 doesn't work:
私に構わず行ってください。
"Don't mind me and go ahead."?私にかかわらず行ってください。
?"Go ahead, despite me."