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Here is the sentence:　

夫は涎らさんばかりの喜びようだ。

Her husband seems so happy he is almost drooling? That is, he is ecstatically happy? What is this? らさん

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  • are you sure you read it correctly? ら is commonly appended to pronouns to indicate pluralization, but I've never seen it appended to a noun that I can remember. And adding さん is a cutely polite appellation... but if that's not going on here, then it looks like a typo to me... 0_0
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 6, 2018 at 12:54
  • apparently ら can be appended to a noun, much like たち ... but when たち is added to a noun, if さん is also added, it is in this order: 猫さんたち... so らさん still doesn't "fit" that idea... sorry I can't help.
    – ericfromabeno
    Nov 6, 2018 at 13:09
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    The sentence as given would make sense if there was a verb 涎る, but as far as I'm aware none exists. Really it should probably be 涎を垂らさんばかり.
    – Ben Roffey
    Nov 6, 2018 at 13:12

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夫は涎{た}らさんばかりの喜びようだ。
This is an example of bending the rules for a literary aesthetic. The kanji 涎{よだれ} does not have the 垂{た}らす reading, but the meaning and unusual way the author wanted the reader to read it are clear. This is relatively common even without ふりがな in advanced novels. This usage let's the reader know the thing being 垂らすed is 涎 without having to say it.

垂らす becomes 垂らさん because it is a classical Japanese form that is still in use today. Another example is 溢{あふ}れんばかりの笑顔.

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  • tl;dr - pattern is ～んばかり.
    – istrasci
    Nov 7, 2018 at 15:48
  • じゃ・・　[涎]{よだれをた}らさんばかりに... なんちゃって！ jk
    – Chocolate ♦
    Nov 8, 2018 at 2:39

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