Where does the particle は come from?


In A Dictionary to Basic Japanese Grammar, it says under the conditional ば
that this is the origin of the topic particle は but I haven't been able to
find where this claim comes from. Does anyone know how the conditional came to
be the topic particle?




It's not that one is the origin of the other. Adverbial particle は,
conjunction ば and sentence ender わ (as in 出るわ出るわ) share the same origin.

The reason why adverbial particle は came to denote the topic is probably
because one needed something to tell boundary when it had been originally
unmarked.




It's not that one is the origin of the other. Adverbial particle は,
conjunction ば and sentence ender わ (as in 出るわ出るわ) share the same origin.

The reason why adverbial particle は came to denote the topic is probably
because one needed something to tell boundary when it had been originally
unmarked.

