Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The Particle wo in Japanese - From Exclamative Particle to Case Marker

Andersson, Erika LU (2013) SPVR02 20131
Japanese Studies
Master's Programme: Language and Linguistics
Abstract
This thesis investigates the different usages of the wo particle in the Japanese language, from the time of the earliest sources of the 8th century up until today, by presenting examples from different genres and time periods. It shows that the accusative function of the particle has remained in the language at least from the earliest sources while the exclamatory and interjectional usages started to decline by the 12th century. It also shows that the particle was widely used for marking adverbials in the pre-modern language while such a function is limited in the modern language. The development of the particle is discussed and a possible path of diachronic change is proposed. The development is compared to general patterns for case... (More)
This thesis investigates the different usages of the wo particle in the Japanese language, from the time of the earliest sources of the 8th century up until today, by presenting examples from different genres and time periods. It shows that the accusative function of the particle has remained in the language at least from the earliest sources while the exclamatory and interjectional usages started to decline by the 12th century. It also shows that the particle was widely used for marking adverbials in the pre-modern language while such a function is limited in the modern language. The development of the particle is discussed and a possible path of diachronic change is proposed. The development is compared to general patterns for case development. It is observed that case particles generally do not develop from exclamations and that no such pattern has been found in other languages, possibly making Japanese unique in this regard. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Andersson, Erika LU
supervisor
organization
course
SPVR02 20131
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Japanese, particles, accusative, direct object, grammar
language
English
id
3878365
date added to LUP
2013-06-25 08:37:03
date last changed
2013-06-25 08:37:03
@misc{3878365,
  abstract     = {{This thesis investigates the different usages of the wo particle in the Japanese language, from the time of the earliest sources of the 8th century up until today, by presenting examples from different genres and time periods. It shows that the accusative function of the particle has remained in the language at least from the earliest sources while the exclamatory and interjectional usages started to decline by the 12th century. It also shows that the particle was widely used for marking adverbials in the pre-modern language while such a function is limited in the modern language. The development of the particle is discussed and a possible path of diachronic change is proposed. The development is compared to general patterns for case development. It is observed that case particles generally do not develop from exclamations and that no such pattern has been found in other languages, possibly making Japanese unique in this regard.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Erika}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Particle wo in Japanese - From Exclamative Particle to Case Marker}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}