The Particle wo in Japanese - From Exclamative Particle to Case Marker

Abstract: This thesis investigates the different usages of the wo particle in the Japanese language, from the time of the earliest sources of the 8th century up until today, by presenting examples from different genres and time periods. It shows that the accusative function of the particle has remained in the language at least from the earliest sources while the exclamatory and interjectional usages started to decline by the 12th century. It also shows that the particle was widely used for marking adverbials in the pre-modern language while such a function is limited in the modern language. The development of the particle is discussed and a possible path of diachronic change is proposed. The development is compared to general patterns for case development. It is observed that case particles generally do not develop from exclamations and that no such pattern has been found in other languages, possibly making Japanese unique in this regard.