Why do you use 说明称, not either 说明 or 称?

Question

According to this news over 中国新闻网:

中新网10月4日电 据日本媒体报道，日本新党“希望之党”党首、东京都知事小池百合子3日再次否定自身会参加众院选举，称“百分之百不会，从一开始就这么说”。

小池说明称，前首相小泉纯一郎对她说“作为都知事加油”。她断言道：“虽然(小泉)进次郎叫着(要我参选)，但我向他父亲承诺不会出马。我将作为都知事继续切实努力。”

What is the meaning of 说明称? 说明 means "explain" while 称 means "call" or "say". So I feel that the words are duplicated.

What I don't understand is why it duplicates the words as 说明称. Why not use just one, which I think enough...?

_{BTW what is the meaning of 从一开始...? Why is it not 从开始? Well I might pose a separate question...}

Answer 1

说明 is used as a noun word here, meaning 'illustration or explanation'.

So, 说明称 means 'say in her/his illustration/explanation'.

从一开始 means 'from the very beginning', while 从开始 means 'from the beginning'.

Answer 2

This is probably 连谓短语 where they are both used as verbs.

称 is only used to specify what exactly someone is saying, though it can be implied that the action of actually saying that has happened. Without it, the following sentence could still only be understood as what she says, but the author may feel it isn't clear enough.

说明 means to explain, a more specific word than 说, which you may think is implied by 称 (but there might be some subtle differences). So it does contain more information than simply 称. And if something else happens:

小池停止了说明。

Here you can use only 说明 alone, not 称 or 说明称. Omitting 说明 makes it more difficult to express these ideas.

Answer 3

说明称 say something in an explanatory manner.