UNIT 15 Special particles 1 ☚ to and Ⱒ man
In the previous units, the case particles, such as 㧊VṖSG 㦚V⯒SG 㠦SG 㦮SG O㦒P⪲SG 㢖VὒSG O㧊P⧧SG 䞮ἶSG 㠦㍲SG 䞲䎢SG 㠦ỢSG ℮SG 䞲䎢㍲, and 㠦Ợ㍲ were discussed. The only special particle introduced so far is the topic particle 㦖V⓪. This unit discusses the difference between the case and special particles in their functions as well as the place where they appear. Then, the unit introduces two special particles, Ⱒ and ☚.
The differences between case particles and special particles What distinguishes case particles from special particles lies in their functions. While the primary function of the case particle is to indicate the syntactic role of the noun it attaches to (e.g., whether the noun is the subject, object, indirect object, and so on), that of the special particle is to add a special meaning such as “also,” “even,” and “only,” or to indicate whether the word it attaches to is the topic of the sentence. Case particles also differ from special particles in the place they appear in the sentence. A case particle can appear only after a noun (e.g., subject, object, indirect objects etc.). However, a special particle can appear in one of three places. First, it can appear in place of a case particle. For instance, a special topic particle 㦖V⓪ can appear where you would expect the subject case particle 㧊VṖ: 㑮㧪㧊G䞯㌳㧊㠦㣪 “Susan is a student” 㑮㧪㦖G䞯㌳㧊㠦㣪 “As for Susan, (she) is a student” 㡺⓮G⋶㝾ṖG㫡㞚㣪 “Today’s weather is good” 㡺⓮G⋶㝾⓪G㫡㞚㣪 “As for today’s weather, (it) is good” They can also appear in the place where you would expect the object case particle 㦚V⯒:
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