7.9. Emotion markers



7.9.1. Sentence-final postpositions


Japanese has several communication-oriented postpositions to clarify a speaker's intention. Let us call them emotion markers here. You have learned two other kinds of postpositions: case markers, such as the nominative marker (ga) /ga/ "ga", and information markers, such as the topic marker (ha) /wa/ "wa". There are several other categories, but we focus on these three categories now.

Their priority of combining nouns is clearly different. If a noun is followed by each one of the three categories of postpositions, a case marker is placed immediately after the noun, and an information marker follows it, then emotion markers follow them. Actually emotion markers should appear only at the end of a sentence, so they are called sentence-final postpositions. They will never appear in relative clauses.

Look at the sample below:

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'i
Romanization: Kyôwa samui.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective
(is cold)
Meaning:It is cold today.

Notice that Japanese doesn't use expletives like English "it" for weather. A noun for time or a place should be the subject of a sentence when you say about weather in Japanese. When you want to say just it is cold, omit the subject.

Even though this sentence is grammatically correct and its meaning is clear, saying it to someone seems unrelated to the current topic, because it simply tells about today's weather without any intension. A typical reaction of a native Japanese speaker might be "So what?"

Imagine a friend of yours is about to go outside without a coat, and you know it is cold outside so you want to say to him that he should wear his coat. In that case, use the opinion marker (yo) /yo'/ "yo", one of emotion markers, like this:

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i)(yo) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'iyo'
Romanization: Kyôwa samuiyo.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective
(is cold)
opinion
marker
Meaning:I think it is cold today. (Why don't you wear your coat?)

You use the opinion marker to tell your opinions and judgment, and to share new information. It must have a person who directly receives what you say, so it is rarely used in written Japanese except for mail. The opinion marker is often used when a speaker thinks he knows better than a person who receives his opinion.

Most emotion markers are simply added after sentences without changing a word. The polite form of the sentence above should be as follows:

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i)(de)(su)(yo) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'idesuyo'
Romanization: Kyôwa samuidesuyo.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective + politeness
(is cold)
opinion
marker

If you think it is cold today and you want to talk about it with a friend, you can use the agreement-asking marker (ne) /ne'/ "ne" like this:

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i)(ne) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'ine'
Romanization: Kyôwa samuine.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective
(is cold)
agreement-
asking
marker
Meaning:It is cold today, isn't it?

Like the opinion marker (yo) /yo'/ "yo", the agreement-asking marker (ne) /ne'/ "ne" is rarely used in written Japanese except for mail.

You can use both of them like this:

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i)(yo)(ne) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'iyone'
Romanization: Kyôwa samuiyone.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective
(is cold)
opinion
marker
agreement-
asking
marker
Meaning:I think it is cold today. Don't you think so?


You can simply say your impression using the impression marker (na) /na'/ "na", without expecting an answer. It is often used when you talk to yourself. The postposition (na) /na'/ "na" sometimes becomes (na)(a) /na' a/ "nâ" if impression is strong. Since the impression marker doesn't expect an answer, it isn't used with the agreement-asking marker (ne) /ne'/ "ne".

Hiragana: (ki)(small yo)(u)(ha)    (sa)(mu)(i)(na)(a) (period)
Phonemes: kyo'uwa samu'ina'a
Romanization: Kyôwa samui.
Structure: noun
(today)
topic
marker
adjective
(is cold)
impression
marker
Meaning:Oh, I feel it is cold today.

In this case, you might be strongly aware of the freezing atmosphere of a winter morning. The impression marker is not commonly used for something unusual and surprising, for instance freezing atmosphere of a summer day.


7.9.2. The affirmation suffix


The affirmation suffix (no)(da) /no da/ "noda" is different from sentence-final postpositions grammatically, but I explain it here because it is similar to them in meaning.

It is a combination of the genitive postposition (no) /no/ "no" and the copula (da) /da/ "da", so it has the same inflection as the copula. It is a suffix added after predicates, i.e. verbs, the copula, and adjectives. Unlike sentence-final postpositions, it can appear in relative clauses. It almost always becomes (n)(da) /N da/ "nda" in colloquial Japanese. Its polite form is of course (no)(de)(su) /no de su/ "nodesu", and it becomes (n)(de)(su) /N de su/ "ndesu" in colloquial Japanese.

Since the polite mode affects only the last predicate of sentences, the predicate before an affirmation suffix will never be a polite form. Make the affirmation suffix polite instead of making the preceding predicate polite.

The affirmation suffix means you say a fact that is not known or not believed by listeners. You use it when you explain a reason and when you affirm a fact that is not believed by other people. There are many situations where you can use it, and in fact it is quite often used both in spoken Japanese and in written Japanese.

You might think it is similar to the opinion marker (yo) /yo'/ "yo", but they are different. You use the opinion marker to share your idea, and you use the affirmation suffix just to affirm a fact. The affirmation suffix is less communication-oriented, which is why it can be used in written Japanese.

Let's compare the following sentences. Subjects are omitted since they are clearly "I" in all the sentences:

Hiragana: (ni)(ku)(ha)    (ta)(be)(na)(i) (period)
Phonemes: niku'wa tabe'nai
Romanization: Nikuwa tabenai.
Structure: noun
(meat)
topic
marker
verb + negation
(don't eat)
Meaning:I don't eat meat.

Hiragana: (ni)(ku)(ha)    (ta)(be)(na)(i)(yo) (period)
Phonemes: niku'wa tabe'naiyo'
Romanization: Nikuwa tabenaiyo.
Structure: noun
(meat)
topic
marker
verb + negation
(don't eat)
opinion
marker
Meaning:I don't eat meat. (That's my opinion.)

Hiragana: (ni)(ku)(ha)    (ta)(be)(na)(i)(n)(da) (period)
Phonemes: niku'wa tabe'naiNda
Romanization: Nikuwa tabenainda.
Structure: noun
(meat)
topic
marker
verb + negation
(don't eat)
affirmation
suffix
Meaning:To tell you the truth, I don't eat meat. (I'm a vegetarian.)

Notice that accusative markers are overridden by topic markers. The first sentence is a plain one, and it is not often used in conversation. The second one means it is the speaker's opinion. It can be a reply to the question "How about going to a steak restaurant tonight?"

The third one can be a reply to the question "Why do you leave that bacon in your salad?", because the affirmation suffix can be used for explaining a reason. It is not your opinion but just a fact that you don't eat meat.

Here is another example:

Hiragana: (ti)(ki)(small yu)(u)(ha)    (u)(go)(ku) (period)
Phonemes: tikyuuwa ugo'ku
Romanization: Chikyûwa ugoku.
Structure: noun
(the earth)
topic
marker
verb
(move)
Meaning:The earth moves.

Hiragana: (ti)(ki)(small yu)(u)(ha)    (u)(go)(ku)(no)(da) (period)
Phonemes: tikyuuha ugo'kunoda
Romanization: Chikyûwa ugokunoda.
Structure: noun
(the earth)
topic
marker
verb
(move)
affirmation
suffix
Meaning:No matter what you say, the earth moves.

In this case, the affirmation suffix is used to affirm the fact which is not believed by other people. Of course it can mean "To tell you the truth, the earth moves". That depends on context.

If the affirmation suffix is added after the present form of the copula (da) /da/ "da", the copula becomes (na) /na/ "na". Note that only the present form of the contracted copula is changed. It is similar to the copula in relative clauses, but there is no difference between ordinary nouns and qualitative nouns in this case. Use (na) /na/ "na" for both of them.

Hiragana: (ni)(n)(ge)(n)(ha)    (sa)(ru)(da) (period)
Phonemes: niNgeNwa sa'ruda
Romanization: Ningenwa saruda.
Structure: noun
(human being)
topic
marker
noun
(monkey)
copula
(is)
Meaning:Human beings are monkeys.

Hiragana: (ni)(n)(ge)(n)(ha)    (sa)(ru)(na)(n)(da) (period)
Phonemes: niNgeNwa sa'runanda
Romanization: Ningenwa sarunanda.
Structure: noun
(human being)
topic
marker
noun
(monkey)
copula
(is)
affirmation
suffix
Meaning:The fact is that human beings are monkeys.


Since the affirmation suffix means that you affirm a thing now, its past form is not often used. When you affirm a thing which happened in the past, add the affirmation suffix after a past sentence.

Here is an example:

Hiragana: (ni)(n)(ge)(n)(ha)    (sa)(ru)(da)(small tu)(ta)(n)(da) (period)
Phonemes: niNgeNwa sa'rudaQtaNda
Romanization: Ningenwa sarudattanda.
Structure: noun
(human being)
topic
marker
noun
(monkey)
copula
(was)
affirmation
suffix
Meaning:The fact is that human beings were monkeys.

The affirmation suffix should be a present form, like in the English translation "The fact is that human beings were monkeys."

You can make the affirmation suffix more communication-oriented by adding the opinion marker (yo) /yo'/. In that case, the opinion marker means that you tell new information.

Hiragana: (ni)(n)(ge)(n)(ha)    (sa)(ru)(na)(n)(da)(yo) (period)
Phonemes: niNgeNwa sa'runandayo'
Romanization: Ningenwa sarunandayo.
Structure: noun
(human being)
topic
marker
noun
(monkey)
copula
(is)
affirmation
suffix
opinion
marker
Meaning:In fact, human beings are monkeys. I think you didn't know that.



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