Inspired by some concepts in programming recently I’ve come up with the idea that は marks an environment and が marks a variable inside an environment.

 

Environment and variable:

An example of environment:

猫は

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: cat            │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 └───────────────────┘

This is an environment with the name 猫.

 

Many things can exist inside this environemnt:

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: cat            │
 │ ----------------- │
 │ behavior nyan     │
 │                   │
 │ cute liquid       │
 │                   │
 │ mouse ...         │
 └───────────────────┘

 

An example of variable:

猫が

             v: cat

This is just a variable with the name 猫.

 

私は猫が

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: I              │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │           v: cat  │
 └───────────────────┘

This is the depiction of an variable with the name 猫 inside an environemnt with the name 私.

 

Some sentences

Sentence 1: 猫が好きだ

This sentence can have any of following meanings according to context

a) Generally speaking, cats are liked [猫が好きだ]

b) As for me, cats are liked (-> I like cats) [私は猫が好きだ]

c) As for ? (someone or something according to context), cats are liked [◯は猫が好きだ]

a)








             v: cat───────► liked



b)

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: I              │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │           v: cat──┼────► liked
 └───────────────────┘


c)

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: ?              │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │           v: cat──┼────► liked
 └───────────────────┘

 

Sentence 2: 猫は好きだ

This sentence can have any of following meanings according to context.

a) Generally speaking, as for cats, everything about cats is liked. [猫は好きだ]

b) Generally speaking, as for cats, ? about cats is liked. [猫は◯が好きだ]

c) As for me, as for cats, everything about cats is liked. (-> I like cats) [私は猫は好きだ]

d) As for me, as for cats, ? about cats is liked. [私は猫は◯が好きだ]

a)

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: cat            │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   ├───────► liked
 └───────────────────┘


b)

 ┌───────────────────┐
 │ E: cat            │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │                   │
 │            v: ? ──┼───────► liked
 └───────────────────┘


c)

 ┌───────────────────────────────┐
 │ E: I                          │
 │                               │
 │                               │
 │        ┌───────────────────┐  │
 │        │ E: cat            │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   ├──┼────► liked
 │        └───────────────────┘  │
 └───────────────────────────────┘


d)

 ┌───────────────────────────────┐
 │ E: I                          │
 │                               │
 │                               │
 │        ┌───────────────────┐  │
 │        │ E: cat            │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │                   │  │
 │        │           v: ? ───┼──┼────► liked
 │        └───────────────────┘  │
 └───────────────────────────────┘

 

Sentence 3: 猫好きだ

I think here 猫 can be either an environment or an variable.

 

Environment & variable vs topic & subject: I think this environment model explains things betther than the use of the terms “topic” and “subject”, at least for me.

 

I took inspirations from following sources:

a) Lesson 3: WA-particle secrets schools don’t ever teach. How WA can make or break your Japanese (by Cure Dolly)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9_T4eObNXg&list=PLg9uYxuZf8x_A-vcqqyOFZu06WlhnypWj&index=3

b) Environment model in “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1aqPBJCPg&t=2023s

  • Umechan
    9·
    10 months ago

    I personally had one or two issues with the video you used. I’m not sure they were being literal when they said は means “as for”. は doesn’t have any meaning, it has a function. Translating it this way can help people understand how は works within the sentence, but I’ve also seen it confuse people too. I once saw a post from someone who said 私は難しい incorrectly thinking it meant “It’s difficult for me.”

    Some of the things you mentioned also weren’t accurate.

    a) Generally speaking, cats are liked [猫が好きだ] b) As for me, cats are liked (-> I like cats) [私は猫が好きだ]

    Sentence B is correct. Sentence A however is just sentence B with the subject/topic omitted. You’ll have to infer the it from the context, but it will be “I” in most cases. I don’t think there will be any context in which it will be understood as cats being generally liked by everyone.

    a) Generally speaking, as for cats, everything about cats is liked. [猫は好きだ] c) As for me, as for cats, everything about cats is liked. (-> I like cats) [私は猫は好きだ]

    There are a few issues here that are a little misleading. は好き can be used like this, but in my experience of looking at sentence from native Japanese speakers, it’s mostly only used in the following three ways:

    1. Comparisons, for example 私は猫は好きですが、犬は好きではありません (I like cats, but I don’t like dogs.)
    2. Together with a conjunction like ですが、ですけど、でも, for example 私は猫は好きですが、飼ったことはありません (I do like cats, but I’ve never had one.)
    3. Together with になる, for example 私は猫は好きになれませんでした (I wasn’t able to become a cat lover.)

    Number 2 and 3 can be replaced with が, but は is preferred for number 1.

    私は猫が好き also doesn’t quite mean you like everything about cats. It’s the same as saying you like cats in English, you’re making a general statement without specificially identifying what you like about them. I like everything about cats is closer to 猫の事が好きです or 猫の全てが好きです.