Hironori NISHI
University of Memphis, USA hnishi1@memphis.edu
Abstract
N deshita/datta, which is the past-tense form of n desu/da, has not been explored in depth in the field of Japanese linguistics. By using the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ) as a database, the present study explores the cases of n deshita/datta used for past events and situations. The findings of the present study show that approximately one-third of the cases of n deshita/datta used for past events and situations in the corpus co-occurred with grammatical elements that require past-tense connections such as the sentential ending particle kke, the tara structure, and the tari structure. For the cases of n deshita/datta that co-occurred with kke, tara, or tari, it was concluded that the grammatical restrictions arising from these elements triggered the occurrences of n deshita/datta. On the other hand, about two-thirds of the cases of n deshita/datta occurred without any grammatical elements that require past-tense connections. These cases of n deshita/datta were used to express the speaker's recollection of previously held knowledge, or as part of confirmation-seeking utterances for previously held knowledge.
Keywords: Japanese linguistics; discourse analyses; past tense; n desu; n deshita; n datta
Povzetek
N deshita/datta, ki je pretekla oblika strukture n desu/da, v japonskem jezikoslovju ni nikoli dobila pozornosti. Z vpogledom v korpus BCCWJ (Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese) tokratna raziskava razkriva uporabo te oblike za pretekle dogodke ali razmere. Rezultati kažejo, da se približno ena tretjina vseh primerov n deshita/datta, ki kažejo na pretekle dogodke ali razmere, pojavlja skupaj s stavčnim členkom kke, v tara strukturi ali pa v tari strukturi. Za omenjene tri primere je moč reči, da je pojavnost pretekle oblike n deshita/datta posledica slovničnih pravil. To pa ne velja za preostali dve tretjini primerov z obliko n deshita/datta, preko katerih govorec izrazi njemu že znane dogodke ali razmere oziroma o njihovi pravilnosti od sogovorca pričakuje potrdilo.
Ključne besede: japonsko jezikoslovje; diskurzivna analiza; preteklik; n desu; n deshita; n datta
Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 7(1), 2017. ISSN: 2232-3317, http://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/ala/ DOI: 10.4312/ala.7.1.41-56
1 Introduction
The Japanese sentential ending n desu structure has been discussed and explored in depth in the field of Japanese linguistics. However, previous studies focus mainly on its present-tense form n desu, and the past-form n deshita has not been included in the scope of these analyses. By examining a large corpus, the present paper will explore the usages of n deshita used for past events and situations in discourse, and discuss the factors that trigger the usage of n deshita.
2 Japanese n desu structure
The Japanese n desu structure has been the focus of linguistic inquiries by various scholars (Jorden, 1963; Alfonso, 1966; Kuno, 1973; McGloin, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1989; Aoki, 1986; Tanomura, 1990; Takatsu, 1991; Maynard, 1992, 2005; Noda, 1997; Ijima 2010; among many others). The n desu structure consists of the nominalizer n and the copula desu, and the structure is believed to create various interactional effects when it is added to the end of a sentence. Compare the a. sentences with the b. sentences in (1) and (2).
(1)	a. ^
Watashi wa hirugohan o taberu. I	TP lunch O eat
'I eat lunch.'
b.
Watashi wa hirugohan o taberu n desu. I	TP lunch O eat N CP
'(It is that) I eat lunch.'
(2)	a.
Kaban wa ökl. bag TP large 'The bag is large.'
b.
Kaban wa ok! n da. bag TP large N CP '(It is that) the bag is large.'
(1a) and (2a) simply express the semantic information included in the sentences, but (1b) includes the n desu structure, and (2b) includes n da, which is a non-polite variant of n desu. The n desu structure in Japanese is typically translated as 'it is that' in English (Jorden and Noda, 1987; McGloin, 1980, 1989; Lammers, 2005; McGloin et al., 2013; etc.), but it is recognized as one of the most obscure and difficult-to-conceptualize
grammatical structures in Japanese. Due to its wide range of usages and versatile interactional effects, various arguments have been formulated on the interactional functions of the n desu structure. For example, McGloin (1989) argues that by using the n desu structure, the speaker can "present information which is known only to the speaker or the hearer as if it were shared information" (p. 89), and it has interactional functions such as explanation, rapport building, and providing background information. On the other hand, some discuss the n desu structure from the perspective of evidentiality. Aoki (1986) argues that the n desu structure has an evidential function of marking "nonspecific evidential statements" (p. 223), which does not explicitly indicate or specify the source of information for the stated proposition though treating the information as factual.
For the description of past events or situations with the n desu structure, the tense of the component that precedes n desu is modified into the past tense, but n desu itself typically remains unchanged. Examples (3) and (4) show the usages of n desu for a past event.
(3)
Watashi wa hirugohan o tabeta n desu. I	TP lunch O ate N CP
'(It is that) I ate lunch.'
(4)
Kaban wa ökikatta n da. bag TP was large N CP '(It is that) the bag was large.'
In (3), tabeta, which is the past form of taberu 'to eat' is used before n desu. In (4), ökikatta, which is the past form of ökT'to be big,' is used before n desu. In both (3) and (4), the copula component in the n desu structure stays in the present form and is not affected by the tense of the propositional content that precedes the n desu structure.
As mentioned in the introduction, past studies on the n desu structure primarily focus on the present-tense n desu, and the past-tense n deshita has not been explored in depth. Examples (5) and (6) include the past-tense forms of n desu and its non-polite variation n da, respectively.
(5)
Watashi wa hirugohan o tabeta n deshita. I	TP lunch O ate N CP
'(It was that) I ate lunch.'
Kaban wa ökikatta n datta. bag TP was large N CP '(It was that) the bag was large.'
Even though it is not grammatically unacceptable to use the past-tense n deshita/datta instead of the present tense n desu/da, some speakers of Japanese may feel (5) and (6) as unnatural unless a very specific context is given, which might be the reason why the past-tense n deshita/datta is left out in previous studies. Also, in the field of teaching Japanese as a second language, the present-tense n desu/da is introduced in early stages of learning in many Japanese language textbooks, but no explanation is provided for the past-tense n deshita/datta (Jorden and Noda, 1987; Lammers, 2005; Banno et al., 2011; Hatasa et al., 2015; etc.). In addition, many intermediate to advanced level textbooks also do not include any information on the usage of n deshita/datta (Miura & McGloin, 2008; Oka et al. 2009; etc.). Furthermore, as far as the author is aware, no studies have been conducted on the usage of n deshita/datta by L2 speakers of Japanese.
3 Present study
N deshita, which is the past form of n desu, has not been explored in depth in previous studies on Japanese linguistics nor second language acquisition. In order to explore the usages of n deshita in discourse, the present study examined cases of n deshita in a large corpus. By using the corpus as a database, the present study explored the usages of n deshita quantitatively and qualitatively, and analyzed in which kinds of contextual situations n deshita is used and how its interactional properties are utilized by speakers of Japanese.
The corpus used in the present study was the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), which is a balanced language database for written Japanese that was created by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (Maekawa, 2008). The data in the BCCWJ is comprised of approximately 104.3 million words, and it covers text genres such as general books, magazines, newspapers, business reports, blogs, internet forums, textbooks, and legal documents among others. The search for the linguistic data in the database was conducted through the Chunagon search portal, which was also developed by the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, and has a user interface similar to an internet search engine.
The scope of the present study was limited to cases of n deshita that follow another component in the past form in order to highlight the difference between using the present-tense n desu and the past-tense n deshita for past events, and also to limit the number of cases to be examined due to the large size of the BCCWJ. As for the selection of examples from the database, n deshita and n datta that follow the past marker -ta or -da were searched on the Chunagon search portal. The search results were examined quantitatively and qualitatively.
4 Results and discussion
In order to identify individual examples of the past-tense form of n desu used for past events or situations, the four possible hiragana sequences for the combination of the past morpheme -ta/da and n deshita/n datta, which are ta n deshita (fz^^^fz) ta n datta	), da n deshita	), and da n datta (fz^fz^fz) were
input into the Chunagon search portal. The search yielded 180 cases of the four possible hiranaga sequences for the -ta/da + n deshita/datta combination, but 13 cases were coincidentally matching cases such as kantan datta 'it was easy,' which are irrelevant to the scope of the present study. After eliminating the matching but irrelevant cases, 167 cases were available for further analysis. The following table summarizes the breakdown of the 167 cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta found in the corpus.
Table 1: -ta/da + n deshita/datta in the BCCWJ
Hiragana sequence	# of cases
-ta/da n deshita	61
-ta/da n datta	106
Total	167
4.1 -ta/da n deshita/datta co-occurred with kke, tara, or tari
The 167 cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta in the corpus were examined qualitatively. Out of the 167 cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta, 63 cases (37.7%) co-occurred with the sentence final particle kke, the tara structure, or the tari structure. Kke, tara, and tari all require a past-tense connection for the preceding grammatical item. The cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta that co-occurred with kke, tara, or tari will be analyzed in this section.
Out of the 167 cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta found in the corpus, 35 cases (21.0%) co-occurred with the sentence final particle kke. More precisely, 30 cases were -ta/da n deshita co-occurring with kke, and 5 cases were -ta/da n datta co-occurring with kke. The sentence final particle kke requires the past-tense form before the particle when it follows a verb or an i-adjective. Kke can also follow a predicate that includes a noun or a na-adjective, but the tense of the predicate can be either present or past, depending on the type of copula used at the end of the predicate (Martin, 1975; Kosaka, 2004; McGloin et al, 2013; etc.).
Example (7) includes a case of n deshita used with kke found in the corpus. (7) is from an internet discussion board included in the BCCWJ, on which its users ask and answer questions about topics related to everyday life.
(7)
Rindobagu no bökaru no Watase Maki tte gitä ka besu yatte ta Rindobagu LK lead singer LK Watase Maki QT guitar or bass played
kami no nagai hito to kekkon shita n deshita kke? hair LK long person to got married N CP FP
'Am I right that Maki Watase, who was the lead singer of Rindobagu (name of a rock band), married the person who was playing the guitar or bass?'
According to Martin (1975), kke marked utterances are used to indicate "thinking back, recollecting to oneself, or questioning oneself about some situations to be recalled" (p. 937). However, as Hayashi (2010, 2012) claims, kke is also commonly used in utterances addressed to another person. In regards to the usage of kke in interactional situations, Hayashi (2010) argues that "unlike ka and no, kke makes implicit reference to knowledge or information previously held by the speaker and shared with the addressee, but which the speaker has somehow forgotten or is unsure about" (p. 2687). Example (7) is a question about Maki Watase, who is a well-known musician in Japan, and the person who asked the question used to have the information but he or she is not sure as of now, and this uncertainty is marked with kke. As for the usage of n deshita, the particle kke requires the past form for the preceding item when it follows the long-form copula desu, and this grammatical constraint seems to be the main factor that triggers the usage of n deshita here. The two forms of Japanese copula, da and desu, mark different levels of politeness, and generally speaking, desu is considered to be more polite than da. When kke follows the less polite copula da, the tense of da can be either the present-tense da or the past-tense datta, and neither of them are grammatically incorrect. Examples (8) and (9) demonstrate the acceptability of using datta and da directly before kke, respectively.
(8)	fe^A.
Ano hito, Tanaka-san datta kke? that person Tanaka Mr. CP FP 'Am I right that that person is Mr. Tanaka?'
(9)	fe^A.
Ano hito, Tanaka-san da kke? that person Tanaka Mr. CP FP 'Am I right that that person is Mr. Tanaka?'
Even though the tense of the copula component is different in (8) and (9), there are no semantic or communicative differences between (8) and (9). However, as Kosaka (2004) points out, when the long-form copula desu is used before kke, it must be modified into the past-tense deshita, and the present-tense desu cannot precede kke. Observe (10) and (11).
(10) ^—t.
Eto, dochira san deshita kke? well who	CP FP
'Well, (I used to know but) who are you?'
(11) —
*Eto, dochira san desu kke? well who	CP FP
'Well, (I used to know but) who are you?'
(Kosaka, 2004, p. 139)
In (10), deshita, which is the past form of the desu, is used directly before kke, and it is an acceptable sentence. On the other hand, the present-tense desu is used in (11), and the sentence is not acceptable.
The above mentioned explanation is also applicable to the usage of n deshita in (7), which has already been examined. (12) provides a hypothetical example in which n desu in used instead of n deshita in (7).
(12)
*Rindobagu no bökaru no Watase Maki tte gitä ka besu yatte ta Rindobagu LK lead singer LK Watase Maki QT guitar or bass played
kami no nagai hito to kekkon shita n desu kke? hair LK long person to got married N CP Q
'Am I right that Maki Watase, who was the lead singer of Rindobagu (name of a rock band), married the person who was playing the guitar or bass?'
As demonstrated by (12), the present-tense of the copula desu cannot precede kke due to the grammatical constraint imposed on the usage of kke. Therefore, in order for the speaker to use kke after the n desu structure, and if the speaker also wants to preserve the politeness level marked with the long-form copula desu, the speaker has no choice other than to use the past-tense deshita with kke. There are many examples of n deshita co-occurring with kke similar to (7) in the corpus, and the usages of n deshita in those cases appear to be resulting from the grammatical constraint discussed above.1
Another grammatical form that frequently co-occurred with -ta/da n deshita/datta in the corpus was tara. Out of the 167 cases of -ta/da n deshita/datta in the corpus,
1 As demonstrated in the comparison between (8) and (9), the non-polite da and datta are interchangeable before kke and the meaning of the sentence does not change regardless of the choice. The five cases of -ta/da n datta kke in the corpus seem to be resulting from the flexibility of using da or datta directly before kke.
26 cases (15.6%) co-occurred with the tara structure. Generally speaking, the Japanese tara structure is considered to express conditional meaning similar to 'if' or 'when' in English. Tara indicates that "the action/state expressed by the main clause in a sentence takes place after the action/state expressed by the subordinate clause" (Makino and Tsutsui, 1989, p. 452). The structure is typically labeled as the "tara" structure in linguistic research, but technically the tara structure consists of the past form of a verb, an /-adjective or a copula, and ra that follows it. For example, the tara structure for the verb taberu 'to eat' is tabeta ra, which consists of the past form tabeta 'ate' and ra. When ra follows a copula, datta ra or desh/ta ra is formed depending on the intended politeness level.
The following example is from the BCCWJ, and it was uttered by a character in a novel. (13) contains a case of -ta n datta that co-occurs with the tara structure.
(13)
Do mo kö mo hikikaesu shika nai na. Byöin ni kaette kara anyway go back have to FP hospital to return then
kiga tsuita n datta ra, ashita ni mawashi chau kedo. notice N CP if tomorrow until wait	FP
'Anyway, I have to go back. If (it was that) I noticed it after I return to the hospital, I would have waited until tomorrow.'
As mentioned earlier, in order for the tara structure to be formulated, the grammatical unit that directly precedes ra must be in the past form. Therefore, whenever the tara structure is used with a predicate that ends with the n desu structure, the copula component must be converted to the past-tense desh/ta or datta. This is very similar to what was observed for the sentence final particle kke earlier, since the usage of the past-tense n desh/ta is triggered by the grammatical restriction caused by a grammatical component that directly follows n desu for both kke and the tara structure.
The third type of grammatical element that requires a past-tense connection co-occurring with -ta/da + n desh/ta/datta is the tar/ structure. In the examined corpus, 2 cases of ta/da + n desh/ta/datta co-occurred with the tar/ structure. The tar/ structure is used to express "inexhaustive listing of actions or states" (Makino and Tsutsui, 1989, p. 458), and it is typically used with verbs as in utatta r/ odotta r/ suru 'do things like singing and dancing,' but it can also be used with nouns and adjectives as well. As for the formation of the structure, tar/ consists of a past-tense form of a predicate + r/ and suru 'to do,' forming structures such as tabeta r/ nonda r/ suru 'to do things like eating and drinking,' ook/katta r/ omokatta r/ suru 'to be big, heavy, etc.,' tsukue datta r/ /su datta r/ suru 'desks, chairs, etc.' In addition, the tar/ structure is sometimes used as a sentential ending expression that marks uncertainty. This usage of the tar/ structure
usually co-occurs with the gerund form ending shite, forming expressions such as okikatta ri shite '(something) might be big.'
The following example, (14), is one of the cases of -ta/da n deshita/datta that co-occurs with tari found in the corpus. It is taken from a scene in a novel where the protagonist recalls his childhood memories.
(14)
Are kara, shibaraku shite boku to nlsan	wa issho ni ofuro ni hairu
that since after a while me and older brother TP with take a bath
koto wa nakunatte shimatta n da kedo, moshika shite, boku wa N TP stopped	N CP but perhaps	I TP
mada nlsan	to hairitakatta n datta ri shite.
still older brother with wanted to take N CP might
'A little after that, my older brother stopped taking a bath with me, but perhaps, I still wanted to take a bath with him.'
In the above example, the tari structure is used to express uncertainty at the end of the sentence. Similar to the tara structure discussed earlier, in order for the tari structure to be formulated, the grammatical element directly before ri must be in the past form. Therefore, the copula da in (14) must be in the past form for the sentence to be grammatically acceptable.
In this section, the usages of kke, the tara structure, and the tari structure with -ta/da n deshita/datta were qualitatively examined. These three grammatical elements require a past-tense connection for the preceding item, and this grammatical restriction seems to trigger occurrences of -ta/da n deshita/datta. The next section will explore the cases of -ta/da n deshita/datta that occurred without any grammatical elements which would require past-tense connections.
4.2 -ta/da n deshita/datta without required past-tense connection
4.2.1 -ta/da n deshita/datta for recollection of previously held knowledge
Out of the 167 cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta in the examined corpus, 104 cases (62.3%) were -ta/da + n deshita/datta that did not precede any grammatical elements that require past-tense connections. After examining each case of -ta/da + n deshita/datta, it was found that there are several ways in which -ta/da + n deshita/datta is used in discourse.
The first type of usage of -ta/da + n deshita/datta without being followed by grammatical elements that require a past-tense connection was expressing the
speaker's recollection of previously held knowledge. As Jorden and Noda (1987) explain, Japanese past-tense forms can be used for currently continuing actions or conditions, and it may refer to the speaker's recalled knowledge. Observe the past-tense copula deshita in B's utterance in (15).
(15)	A: T^U^^^ffi.^Z^-^^o
Amerika taishikan, doko desu ka. America embassy where CP Q 'Where's the American Embassy?'
B: ^-t. ^/H^-L^teo Eto, Toranomon deshita ne. uh Toranomon CP FP 'Uh, it was Toranomon, wasn't it?' (i.e., as I recall it)
(Jorden and Noda, 1987, p. 196)
In response to A's question, B uses the past-tense deshita, but this does not necessarily mean that the American Embassy was located in Toranomon in the past and now it has moved to a new location. The usage of the past-tense form here indicates that the speaker has just recalled his/her previously held knowledge, and the relocation of the American Embassy is not being implied or indicated.
In the examined corpus, there were many cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta that were used to indicate the speaker's recollections of previously held knowledge. The next example, (16), is from a blog entry about taking pictures of rare birds.
(16)
Tashika kyonen mo kare ni satsue	o jama sareta n datta.
perhaps last year also him by photo shoot O got interrupted N CP
'If I remember right (now I recall that) he (my husband) also interrupted
my photo shoot last year.'
In this part of the blog, the writer recalls that her husband interrupted her photo shoot last year, and the recollection of the information is indicated by the past-tense datta at the end of the sentence. Some readers may feel that the speaker's recollection is also expressed by tashika 'if I remember right' in (16), but even when tashika is removed, the indication of the speaker's recollection does not change. Observe (17).
(17)
Kyonen mo kare ni satsue o jama sareta n datta.
last year also him by photo shoot O got interrupted N CP
'(Now I recall that) he (my husband) also interrupted my photo shoot last year.'
However, for this particular example, if the present-tense da was used instead of datta at the end of the sentence, the sentence would give the impression that the writer has just come to realize what she stated. In (18), the past-tense datta in (17) is modified into the present-tense da.
(18)
Kyonen mo kare ni satsue	o jama sareta n da.
last year also him by photo shoot O got interrupted N CP
'He (my husband) also interrupted my photo shoot last year.'
As demonstrated by (18), if the sentence ended with the present-tense da, it would give the impression that the writer has just realized that her husband interrupted her photo shoot last year, and the speaker's recollection of previously held knowledge is not expressed. In addition, as Sadanobu (2004) argues, speaker recollection can be marked by using a past-tense ending only when the sentence is about stative situations, and it cannot be marked when the sentence is about dynamic actions.
(19)	S^t^^^^^^Ä^n^o
Kyonen mo kare ni satsue	o jama sareta.
last year also him by photo shoot O got interrupted
'He (my husband) also interrupted my photo shoot last year.'
N datta in (17) is removed in (19). As demonstrated by (19), since jama sareta 'got interrupted' is a dynamic action, simply using the past tense for the action does not indicate that the speaker just recalled previously held knowledge. However, as we observed in (16) and (17), the speaker can indicate recollection of previously held knowledge for dynamic actions when -ta/da + n deshita/datta is used.
The examined corpus included many other cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta similar to (16). The following are some of the examples of -ta/da + n deshita/datta that were found in the corpus, and they appear to be indicating speaker recollection of previously held knowledge.
(20)
So ieba,	kyonen mo pinku no shikuramen o ni hachi
speaking of which last year also pink LK cyclamen O two pots
kureta no o omoidashita. gave me LK O recalled
'Speaking of which, I recalled that I also received two pots of pink cyclamens last year.'
Hito hachi wa umaku saki tsuzuketa kedo, mö hito hachi wa one pot TP well kept blooming but another pot TP
sugu ni dame ni nacchatta n datta. quickly bad became N CP
'(Now I recall that) the cyclamens in one pot kept blooming well, but the ones in another pot went bad quickly.'
A, sö da. Anmari ni hannö ga warui node, güguru ado wazu o oh so CP extremely response SB bad because Google AdWords O
teshi ni shite oita n datta. turn off set	N CP
'Oh, yes. (Now I recall that) I turned off Google AdWords because the response was very bad.'
Both (20) and (21) are sentences about dynamic actions that happened in the past, and -ta n datta is used at the end of the sentence. The past-tense datta in each sentence seems to be indicating speaker recollection of previously held knowledge.
4.2.2 -ta/da + n deshita/datta in confirmation-seeking utterances
The corpus also included cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta used in sentences for seeking confirmation and agreement. This type of usage seems to be derived from -ta/da + n deshita/datta that indicates the speaker's recollections, especially when sentence final particles such as ne and yone are added to the sentence. According to Izuhara (2003), both yo and yone have the interactional function of establishing shared recognition between the speaker and the addressee, and this function of ne and yone seems to be contributing to the formation of the interactional effect.2
Example (22) is from an article based on an interview with a victim of aerial bombing during World War II. The utterance is made by the interviewer.
2 Technically speaking, Izuhara (2003) categorizes ne as a confirmation seeker, and yone as an agreement seeker. However, since the focus of the present study is not the difference between ne and yone, the difference between the two particles is not fully discussed here. For more details, see Izuhara (1993, 2001, 2003).
(22) ^mO^^^m^V^^X^^^L^^fz^VLfz^o
Küshü no toki wa Hongö made aruite irasshatta n deshita ne. bombing LK when TP Hongo to walked	N CP FP
'You walked to Hongo when the bombing happened, right?'
In (22), it appears that the interviewer had already held the stated information when the utterance was made, and the sentence final particle ne is used to indicate the whole utterance was made as a confirmation seeking utterance.
In addition to ne, yone was also used with -ta/da + n deshita/datta in several confirmation seeking sentences in the corpus. (23) is a question utterance by an interviewer in an interview with a musician.
(23)
Tsua jitai wa Hiroshima kara hajimatta n deshita yone.
tour itself TP Hiroshima in started N CP FP
'The (concert) tour itself started in Hiroshima, right?'
In (23), -ta n deshita is followed by yone. Similar to the example that included ne, (23) appears to be uttered as a confirmation seeking utterance for the propositional information that was previously held by the speaker. The examined corpus also included many other examples that were similar to (22) and (23). Based on the abundant usage of these cases in the corpus, the combination of -ta/da + n deshita/datta and ne or yone seems to be a commonly recognized way of seeking confirmation for previously held knowledge.
5 Conclusion
The present paper has explored the usages of -ta/da + n deshita/datta in discourse by examining a large corpus. The findings have shown that 37.8% of -ta/da + n deshita/datta in the corpus co-occurred with either kke, the tara structure, or the tari structure. Kke, tara, and tari all require past-tense connections for the preceding grammatical element. The analysis has shown that the occurrences of -ta/da + n deshita/datta with kke, tara, or tari are triggered by the grammatical constraints arising from those sentential ending expressions or connections. In addition, in the examined corpus, 62.2% -ta/da + n deshita/datta was not accompanied with any grammatical elements that require past-tense connections. Those cases of -ta/da + n deshita/datta are used to indicate the speaker's recollection of previously held knowledge, or used as part of a confirmation seeking utterance for previously held knowledge when it is used with the sentence-final ne or yone.
The author of the present study is aware of the limitations in the present study. The present study only focused on the past-form of the n desu structure that is used for past events and situations. Needless to say, it is possible for the speaker to use n deshita/datta for ongoing or future events and situations as long as the information was previously recognized in the past. Further analysis of those cases may contribute to expanding our understanding of the usages of the past-tense n deshita/datta. In addition, no de atta, which is the past-tense form of no de aru, was not explored in the present study. No de aru is a variant of n desu, and it is predominantly used in formalstyle written texts, especially in narrative texts such as the main body of novels. The relationship between tense, aspect, and point of recognition seems to be operating on a different system in those narrative texts, and communicative functions of no de aru and n desu in colloquial utterances also seem to be highly differentiated. Conducting a comparative study on n deshita/datta and no de atta may further reveal the interactional effects created by using the past form of the n desu structure.
Finally, in the field of Japanese language pedagogy, explicit instruction on the usages of n deshita/datta is usually not included in the curriculum, even though the n desu structure itself is introduced in elementary-level textbooks. Due to the complexity around the usages of n desu, not including n deshita/datta may be reasonable in order to avoid overwhelming beginning-level learners. However, it may be beneficial for learners of Japanese to include instruction on n deshita/datta in intermediate to upper level courses as part of activities to fine-tune their usage of the n desu structure.
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Appendix: Transcription Conventions and Abbreviations
CP	various forms of copula verb be
FP	final particle
LK	nominal linking particle
N	nominalizer
NEG	negative morpheme
O	object marker
Q	question marker
QT	quotative marker
SB	subject marker
TP	topic marker