Thetics and Categoricals

This paper aims to explain the relationship between thetic statements and two groups of particles, i.e. Japanese sentence-final particles (sfps) and German modal particles (mps). Thetic statements are generally associated with predicates of temporary states, verbs of existence or verbs of appearance. By examining the properties of predicates in thetic statements, I argue that perception description is a key characteristic for theticity. I propose a common representational framework (Pragmatic Fu