open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/2115.99338

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/99338

A Contrastive Study on the Topic Markers of the Unfamiliar Arguments or Propositions

日本語

存在動詞

2026-03-20

日本北方言語学会

Northern Language Studies

16

77-100

Japanese possesses a topic-marking form =tte, primarily used in spoken discourse. Unlike the standard topic marker =wa, =tte originates from the quotative =tote and functions to highlight topics unfamiliar to the speaker, frequently appearing in interrogative contexts. Similar unfamiliar-topic markers derived from verbs of "saying" or "quoting" are also observed in other languages, such as Turkish (de-), Mongolian (ge-), Korean (ha-), Burmese (sʰò), and Sinhalese (kiya-). This paper defines these elements as "Quotative-derived Topic-marking Forms" (Quot-forms) and provides a contrastive linguistic analysis across the six aforementioned languages. The investigation reveals a hierarchy in the degree of grammaticalization of Quot-forms as follows: Turkish < Korean ≦? Sinhalese < Burmese ≦? Mongolian < Japanese This study further explores the functional motivations behind these inter-language differences. The analysis suggests that the development of Quot-forms is closely related to the presence and frequency of primary topic markers. In languages like Japanese and Korean, where primary topic markers are well-established, these markers typically govern discourse-anaphoric and referential nouns whose existence is presupposed. Consequently, a functional need arises for a "secondary topic form" to mark nouns that lack these characteristics—such as those unknown to the speaker or newly introduced into the discourse. The author concludes that these languages have grammaticalized quotative forms, which inherently signify indirect information, to fulfill this specific functional role in the topic-marking system.

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968