Time adverbs may usually be added on to Y GA Z to specify the time to which Y GA Z applies as demonstrated in (50)-(52) below:
(50) Konya shushoo no kuruma GA koko o tooru. tonight prime minister GEN car NOM here ACC pass 'Tonight the Prime Minister's car is passing here.' (51) Kinoo gakkoo GA hajimatta.
yesterday school NOM started 'School started yesterday.' (52) Kesa ame GA futteita.
this morning rain NOM was falling 'It was raining this morning.'
Time adverbials are placed sentence initially (and therefore unmarked) as in the above, one may observe the sentence structure as being X \r GA Z in which X stands for a time adverb.
There are however some cases (although only a minority) where X cannot be put in straightforwardly. Note the sentences below:
(53) *Konya tsuki GA akarui. tonight moon NOM is bright 'Tonight the moon is bright.' (54) *Kesa mizu GA tsumetai.
this morning water NOM is cold 'This morning the water is cold.'
(55) *Ashita hoshi GA kirei daroo. tomorrow star NOM be beautiful PRE 'The stars will be beautiful tomorrow.'
Sentences (53)— (55) are not possible in Japanese. These adverbs must be topicalised if one wishes to express in an acceptable form, the meaning each of the sentences intends to convey.
(56) Konya wa tsuki GA akarui. tonight TOP moon NOM is bright 'Tonight the moon is bright.'
(57) Kesa wa mizu GA tsumetai. this morning TOP water NOM is cold 'This morning the water is cold.'
(58) Ashita wa hoshi GA kirei daroo. tomorrow TOP star NOM be beautiful PRE 'The stars will be beautiful tomorrow.'
Such Y GA Z sentences that obligatorily topicalise time adverbs are, a minority. Most of the time Y GA Z will take a time adverb without the operation of topicalisation.
Although the existence of Y GA Z sentences as (56) through (58) seem to defy my argument that Y GA Z describes a scene or a state of affairs at a specific time, I claim it to be not really so. It does not contradict my argument because in X wa Y GA Z, the structure is as such that Y GA Z functions as the predicate of the sentence (see the previous discussion in 5.4.1) and tells (or describes something) about X, which happens to be at a certain time in the cases above. Therefore whether Y GA Z applies to a certain time or describes a certain time,
the actual semantic contents or particularisations that Y GA Z itself undertakes remain the same. It would mean that for what is at issue here in the current chapter, namely, to clarify the differences between Y WA Z and Y GA Z, the question of why in some cases the adverbial X must be topicalised when added to Y GA Z neither presents a problem nor is directly relevant.
It is nevertheless quite interesting to pursue their reasons for such a phenomenon. One can point out that in (56) — (58) the time adverbials are topicalised, indicating that in these sentences the time words cannot function as adverbs. One way of proving this is by demonstrating that (56)-(58) cannot function as answers to when- questions like the following.
(59) Itsu tsuki GA akarui ka? when moon NOM is bright Q 'When is the moon bright?'
(60) Itsu mizu GA tsumetai ka? when water NOM is cold Q 'When is water cold?'
(61) Itsu hoshi GA kirei ka? when star NOM is beautiful Q 'When are the stars beautiful?'
Unlike (56)-(58) the sentences (50)-(52) where time adverbs are placed without wa form perfect answers to the questions below:
(62) Itsu shushoo no kuruma GA koko o tooru ka. when prime minister GEN car NOM here ACC pass Q 'When is the Prime Minister's car passing here?'
(63) Itsu gakkoo GA hajimatta ka? when school NOM started Q 'When did school start?'
(64) Itsu ame GA futteita ka? when rain NOM was falling Q 'When was it raining?'
One may further note that question sentences (59)— (61) themselves would sound a little odd to native speakers.
All the observations regarding X wa Y GA Z above seem to be ascribable to the interpretation given in Japanese to this type of Y GA Z; namely, some Y GA Z clauses have the equivalent value in Japanese as an adjective or a noun predicate. This happens typically when Z contains an adjective or a noun within itself. Notice that in Japanese the following sentences are simply not possible unless the
time words are topicalised.8
8 Why Japanese does not allow the asterisked sentences may pose an interesting semantic challenge,as it would be if one attempted to explain why the English translations for the asterisked sentences are odd. However it is not pursued since here it will suffice just to point out this fact for what I hypothesise, that is, Y GA Z is temporally and/or spatially specific whilst Y WA Z is not inherently so.
(65) -Konya s a m u i . — > Konya WA samui. tonight (is) cold9
'?Tonight is cold.' 'Tonight it is cold.' (66) *Kesa a t a t a k a i . — > Kesa WA a t a t a k a i .
this morning (is) warm
'??This morning is warm.' 'This morning it is warm.' (67) *Ashita yuki d a r o o . — > Ashita WA yuki d a r o o .
tomorrow snow COP(PRE)
'^Tomorrow will snow.' 'Tomorrow it will snow.'
In Japanese some Y GA Z clauses are treated as tantamount to a single adjective or noun predicate and, as such, only convey something about the time rather than about ho w things are at the given time.10