Topic marker
A topic marker is a grammatical particle used to mark the topic of a sentence. It is found in Japanese, Korean, Sorani, Quechua, Ryukyuan, Imonda and, to a limited extent, Classical Chinese. It often overlaps with the subject of a sentence, causing confusion for learners, as most other languages lack it. It differs from a subject in that it puts more emphasis on the item and can be used with words in other roles as well.
Korean: 은/는[edit]
The topic marker is one of many Korean particles. It comes in two varieties based on its phonetic environment: 은 (eun) is used after words that end in a consonant, and 는 (neun) is used after words that end in a vowel.
Example[edit]
In the following example, "school" (Korean: 학교; Hanja:
학교
hakkyo
school
는
neun
TOP
저기
jeogi
over there
에
e
LOC
있다.
itta.
is
(The) school is over there.
Japanese: は[edit]
The topic marker is one of many Japanese particles. It is written with the hiragana は, which is normally pronounced ha, but when used as a particle is pronounced wa. If what is to be the topic would have had が (ga), the subject marker, or を ((w)o), the direct object marker, as its particle, those are replaced by は. Other particles (for example: に, と, or で) are not replaced, and は is placed after them.
The English phrase "as for" is often used to convey the connotation of は, although in many cases this sounds unnatural when used in English. It does, however, convey some senses of the particle, one of which is to mark changing topics. If a person were speaking about someone else and then switched to referring to themselves, they should say
Examples[edit]
In the following example, "car" (
kuruma
car
は
wa
TOP
atarashii
new
です。
desu.
[masu form of だ: copula]
(The) car is new.
In the following example, "television" (テレビ, terebi) is the direct object, and it is marked as the topic. The を that would normally be there to mark the direct object has been replaced by は. The subject, marked by が, is "child" (
テレビ
terebi
television
は
wa
TOP
kodomo
child
が
ga
SBJ
mimasu.
[masu form of "to watch"]
As for the TV, the child watches (it).
In this third example, "today" (
Kyou
Today
は
wa
TOP
gakkou
school
に
ni
IO
ikimasu.
[masu form of "to go"]
As for today, (I) go to school.
Okinawan: や[edit]
Okinawan uses the topic marker や (ya). If the topic is not a proper noun or ends with a short vowel, it tends to merge creating long vowels such as wan ya to wannee ("I am").
Example[edit]
あんまー
anmaa
mother
や
ya
TOP
ちゅらさん.
churasan.
beautiful
Mother is beautiful.
Classical Chinese: 者 [edit]
As an example, consider the sentence "
- Literal translation: Chen Sheng is a Yangcheng person.
- Semantic translation: Chen Sheng is from Yangcheng originally.
- Word for word explanation:
陳 勝 : name of a 3rd-century B.C. rebel.者 : Topic marker.陽 城 : name of a town.人 : person.- 也: Is. (也 means is, am, or are when used in conjunction with
者 ; it can mean other things when used independently.)
Note that
Example[edit]
Chénshèng
[person name]
zhě
TOP
Yángchéng
[town name]
rén
person
也。
yě.
is
Chen Sheng is a Yangcheng person.
<Chen Sheng is from Yangcheng originally.>
In modern Chinese, topic markers have been completely lost and are not used anywhere. For example,
陈胜
Chénshèng
[person name]
(
(shì)
(is)
阳城
yángchéng
[town name]
rén.
person
Chen Sheng (is) a Yangcheng person.
<Chen Sheng is from Yangcheng originally.>
Note:
Quechua: -qa[edit]
The enclitic "-qa" is the topic marker for many Quechua languages. It can occur on nouns, pronouns and adverbs.
Example[edit]
In the following example, Tupaq is the subject, and it is marked as the topic. The evidential suffixe -mi marks the rheme. Both suffixes are often used for non-verbal attributive predication in the third person. The topic normally goes at the beginning of the clause.
Tupaq
[person name]
-qa
TOP
hatun
big
runa
person
-m.
is
Tupaq is a big person.
Mongolian: бол, болбол[edit]
The Mongolian language is known to have topic markers. A common one is "бол" (bol; in the traditional script: ᠪᠣᠯ), an abbreviation of "болбол" (bolbol; in the traditional script: ᠪᠣᠯᠪᠠᠯ), but there are a few other words. These words have other uses as well.
Turkic languages[edit]
In Kazakh language болсақ (bolsaq) is used as a topic marker; which can also mean "if it be". Although other Turkic languages use words or suffixes which originally have different meanings as topic markers, the Turkmen language has the unique suffix -ä for this purpose while other suffixes keep only their literal meanings. Azerbaijani uses isə/-sə -which means "as for"- as a topic marker. Turkish like Azerbaijani uses -ise/-se.
Examples[edit]
әке-м
father-GEN.1SG
болсақ,
TOP
көп
a.lot
ішеді.
drinks.
As for my father, he drinks a lot.
jeren
Jeren
ä
TOP
heniz
still
hem
hasn't
gelmändir.
come.
Jeren hasn't come yet.
mən
I
isə
am.TOP
günahkaram.
sinner.
As for me, I have committed a sin.
ben
I
ise
TOP
ev-de
home-LOC
kaldım.
stayed.
As for me, I stayed at home.