Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. The influence of Western languages on Japanese
1.2. Historical background of Japanese language contact with Western languages
1.3. Reformation of the language
1.4. Oobun-chokuyaku-tai and its influence
1.5. Changes observed in the grammatical subject
1.6. Implications and problems
Chapter 2: Theoretical problems: Defining the notion of subject
2.1. The problem of the notion of subject in Japanese
2.2. The notion of subject in this study
2.3. Summary
Chapter 3: Data and theoretical concepts
3.1. Data
3.2. Method
Chapter 4: Explicit and implicit subjects
4.1. Changes in the occurrence of explicit and implicit subject
4.2. Implicitness in subjects
4.3. Changes in the occurrence of different subject forms
4.4. Factors that influence explicit/implicit manifestation of subjects
4.5. Summary
Chapter 5: Inanimate Subjects in transitive, passive, and causative constructions
5.1. Inanimate subjects with transitive verbs
5.2. Passive constructions and inanimate subjects
5.3. Causative constructions and inanimate subjects
5.4. Summary
Chapter 6: The particles ga and no
6.1. Explicit subjects and subject marking particles
6.2. Unmarked subjects
6.3. Changes in the function of ga and no
Chapter 7: The topic particle wa
7.1. Background discussion
7.2. Macro function and micro function of wa in present-day Japanese
7.3. Earlier uses of the particle
7.4. External influence
7.5. Summary
Chapter 8: Concluding remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index