Can we have two thematic は particles in a sentence?


From what I understand, there are two types of は-particle:

  1. The thematic-は (topic-marker) which is used to introduce things into the universe of discourse.

  2. The contrastive-は.

[jkerian](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/29/jkerian) states that:

> There can be only one thematic は in a sentence. If you see a second one, the
> second is certainly contrastive, and the first might be.
> ([source](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/51/264))

But [Derek](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/users/94/derek-schaab) states
that:

> The [non-first] は **often** adds a hint of comparison or contrast.
> ([source](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/1130/264))

These two sentences are contradictory.

Assuming that jkerian is right, that there is only one thematic は in a
sentence, so the non-first は will **always** add a hint of comparison /
contrast, which contradicts what Derek said.

Assuming that Derek is right, that it is possible for the non-first は not to
add any hints of contrast / comparison, then it suggests that we can now have
more than one thematic は in a sentence, which contradicts what jkerian said.

Who is right? Is it _possible_ to have two は-particles in a sentence, both of
them **not** having any comparative / contrastive hints?




Yes, but only in some cases.

Consider the following.

実{じつ}は、私{わたし}は行{い}きません

This is perfectly correct and a common pattern. The reason being is that some
phrases set to always have a は in them.

In the case of something like the following

彼女{かのじょ}は行きませんが、私は行きます

The second は is allowed because they only apply to one of the sentence
fragments.

Now there are some cases that you might hear a second は that are technically
incorrect, but are still fairly common. Such as

１９日から月末{げつまつ}にかけては、私は行きません

The reason for this being common would seem to be that people haven't thought
about the end of the sentence until they have already said the start of it.

When it comes とは には etc, these can be considered technically different from は,
that is to say they can't be broken down into something else + は thus they can
be used in sentence with another は however their use is normally limited to
cases when は is not used in the sentence.

