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The notion of mirativity as a grammatical category separate from evidentiality is controversial, but a certain amount of cross-linguistic evidence speaks for its validity. The aim of this study is to investigate this notion in contemporary and earlier Japanese, which is shown to have mirative constructions: (i) no miratives, (ii) koto miratives, and (iii) lexical miratives. The particles no and koto are polyfunctional, and they have recently gained a mirative function. Lexical miratives are uttered by the younger generation. These findings raise a diachronic issue regarding the emergence of the three mirative constructions. Adopting Cruschina’s (2011) cartographic approach to discourse-related phenomena and the notion of “emotional vocative” offered by Yamada (1936) , we argue that what binds the three constructions together is the involvement of the IFocP (Information Focus Phrase) and that their emergences are all explained by grammaticalization paths starting from nominals.
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