How to rephrase sentences with an ambiguous は to indicate the contrastive or thematic / 「主題」と「対比」の解釈の余地のある、あいまいな「は」の言い換え方


First, some background. My question is kind of an extension of [this
previously-answered
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/22/whats-the-
difference-between-wa-%E3%81%AF-and-ga-%E3%81%8C) about the difference between
は and が. While I am fairly clear on the different usages of は as a contrastive
marker or a thematic marker, the explanation given on the page linked above
included an example of this sentence used by Susumu Kuno

> 「わたくしが知っている人はパーティーに来ませんでした」

in which the わたくしが知っている人（は） could be translated to something either along the
lines of 'As for the people I know (they didn't come to the party)' or '
_People I know_ didn't come to the party (but people I _don't_ know did)'.
Which translation is correct would depend on whether the は is used as a
thematic marker (to refer back to people who were previously-mentioned), or
whether it is used as a contrastive sentence (that doesn't directly refer to
people who may have previously been mentioned).

Here's the main question: assuming that a sentence was used in the context of
a conversation where は could be taken either way, such as a conversation
containing the sentence above, how would a native Japanese speaker rephrase
such a sentence so that the meaning of the phrase modified by は (e.g.
私が知っている人) is more obvious? This is a two-pronged question, since は would have
to be rephrased differently depending on which of the two meanings was
intended in this hypothetical situation.

My guess would be to use something like としては instead of は to rephrase a
sentence if the phrase was meant to be contrastive, and maybe といえば instead of
は if the phrase was thematic and referring to something previously mentioned.
Whether those would be in any way correct or not, I am not sure what kind of
rephrasing would be most 'natural' or 'elegant', so to speak.




The bad news-は we don't really have an effective way to distinguish them. The
good news-は in fact you don't have to distinguish them.

The particle は's function could be loosely described as "singling out one
thing you and I know as the current focus," that is, every usage theoretically
carries contrastive overtones, as long as it has possible competitors in the
context.

Following criteria generally explain when は loses contrastive reading _if used
without any advance context_.

  * attached to **subject, object, time or place** the event take place, or **possessor** of what you intend to mention in the rheme part.
  * **not** attached to words which already have **contrastive connotation**.  
(all adjectival phrases stumble over this: わたくしが知っている人 "people I know" is
premised on the existence of "people I don't know")

  * used as the **outermost** one in the sentence. (私 **は** [今日は [テニスはしない] ])

and _in the middle of passage_ , you also have to make sure:

  * having **no valid opponent or counterpart** in current context.
  * **not a part or possession** of something mentioned in current context or parent clause.

These things are not as complicated as it looks like, when you're actually
taking part in a conversation. Nor is it likely you can easily overturn the
interpretation within a sentence: manage the context instead. Perhaps you
should rather pay attention to the distinction between は and が.

If you _really_ need workarounds, you can certainly have some. But remember
that none of them is cure-all, for there's no word can truly rephrase は.

* * *

When you want to have a word as theme without implying contrast:

  * use **zero-postposition** (無助詞) form 

> わたしが知っている人[、]{L}パーティーに来ませんでした。

In spoken language, you can use zero postposition form to thematize the
preceding noun without side effects. The "zero postposition" is rendered as _a
brief pause_ (~ 1 mora) or _a slightly prolonged final syllable_ , and usually
transcribed in Japanese comma `、`. This performs fairly well in oral
communication, but is unusable in written language.  
(I replaced わたくし with わたし here, since the former is either too formal to use
with this expression, or sounds too nerdy.)

  * use `ですが`, `だが`, `だけ(れ)ど` etc.

> わたくしが知っている人 **ですが** 、パーティーに来ませんでした。

They means "it's about..." or "when it comes to...", and could be used as
workaround. They in turn have their own ambiguity, that with "though it
is...".

and when you want to explicitly show the contrast:

  * put **stress** on the contrastive part, or the particle itself

> わたくしが **知っている** 人はパーティーに来ませんでした。  
>  People I **_know_** didn't come to the party.

You can make it clear that you intend to compare it with something, by
emphasizing the contrastive part, as much we do in English. It has no steady
graphical rendering, while sometimes written in following form, which is far
less frequently used than English _italics_.

> わたくしが[知っている]{﹅・﹅・﹅・﹅・﹅}人はパーティーに来ませんでした。

  * use emphasis (cleft) construction

> パーティーに来なかったのは、わたくしが知っている人です。  
>  _It was people I know, that didn't come to the party._

  * use `（の）方{ほう}` in bisect situation

> わたくしが知っている **方** （の人）はパーティーに来ませんでした。

When there are only two things mentioned, you can attach `方` "the side" to
tell you're referring the one side in contrast with the other.

* * *

Unfortunately, としては and といえば you suggested won't work as you expected. としては
means "considering as ..." or "among those ...", which has nothing to do with
the problem. といえば "speaking of ..." is expected to introduce some unrelated
topics to hearer. (Maybe you meant was はといえば, which practically just
emphasizes は, but this one still doesn't resolve the ambiguity.)




The bad news-は we don't really have an effective way to distinguish them. The
good news-は in fact you don't have to distinguish them.

The particle は's function could be loosely described as "singling out one
thing you and I know as the current focus," that is, every usage theoretically
carries contrastive overtones, as long as it has possible competitors in the
context.

Following criteria generally explain when は loses contrastive reading _if used
without any advance context_.

  * attached to **subject, object, time or place** the event take place, or **possessor** of what you intend to mention in the rheme part.
  * **not** attached to words which already have **contrastive connotation**.  
(all adjectival phrases stumble over this: わたくしが知っている人 "people I know" is
premised on the existence of "people I don't know")

  * used as the **outermost** one in the sentence. (私 **は** [今日は [テニスはしない] ])

and _in the middle of passage_ , you also have to make sure:

  * having **no valid opponent or counterpart** in current context.
  * **not a part or possession** of something mentioned in current context or parent clause.

These things are not as complicated as it looks like, when you're actually
taking part in a conversation. Nor is it likely you can easily overturn the
interpretation within a sentence: manage the context instead. Perhaps you
should rather pay attention to the distinction between は and が.

If you _really_ need workarounds, you can certainly have some. But remember
that none of them is cure-all, for there's no word can truly rephrase は.

* * *

When you want to have a word as theme without implying contrast:

  * use **zero-postposition** (無助詞) form 

> わたしが知っている人[、]{L}パーティーに来ませんでした。

In spoken language, you can use zero postposition form to thematize the
preceding noun without side effects. The "zero postposition" is rendered as _a
brief pause_ (~ 1 mora) or _a slightly prolonged final syllable_ , and usually
transcribed in Japanese comma `、`. This performs fairly well in oral
communication, but is unusable in written language.  
(I replaced わたくし with わたし here, since the former is either too formal to use
with this expression, or sounds too nerdy.)

  * use `ですが`, `だが`, `だけ(れ)ど` etc.

> わたくしが知っている人 **ですが** 、パーティーに来ませんでした。

They means "it's about..." or "when it comes to...", and could be used as
workaround. They in turn have their own ambiguity, that with "though it
is...".

and when you want to explicitly show the contrast:

  * put **stress** on the contrastive part, or the particle itself

> わたくしが **知っている** 人はパーティーに来ませんでした。  
>  People I **_know_** didn't come to the party.

You can make it clear that you intend to compare it with something, by
emphasizing the contrastive part, as much we do in English. It has no steady
graphical rendering, while sometimes written in following form, which is far
less frequently used than English _italics_.

> わたくしが[知っている]{﹅・﹅・﹅・﹅・﹅}人はパーティーに来ませんでした。

  * use emphasis (cleft) construction

> パーティーに来なかったのは、わたくしが知っている人です。  
>  _It was people I know, that didn't come to the party._

  * use `（の）方{ほう}` in bisect situation

> わたくしが知っている **方** （の人）はパーティーに来ませんでした。

When there are only two things mentioned, you can attach `方` "the side" to
tell you're referring the one side in contrast with the other.

* * *

Unfortunately, としては and といえば you suggested won't work as you expected. としては
means "considering as ..." or "among those ...", which has nothing to do with
the problem. といえば "speaking of ..." is expected to introduce some unrelated
topics to hearer. (Maybe you meant was はといえば, which practically just
emphasizes は, but this one still doesn't resolve the ambiguity.)

