10

Is the って in the following sentence equivalent to 「と」 as in AはBと変わる／違う?

昔から好きな曲って変わらないみたい。

My favourite songs have not changed for many years.

Does this mean it is equivalent to the と used for quotations.

Community
  • 1
Tim
  • 10,634
  • 4
  • 30
  • 68
  • You chose the wrong answer as best. –  Feb 18 '14 at 00:29
  • 4
    @TokyoNagoya I don't think that tells the OP very much. Looking at the downvotes and assuming that you downvoted the wrong answers, all we can deduce is that you suggest that cypher and Axioplase's answers are not wrong. – Earthliŋ Feb 18 '14 at 00:48
  • @TokyoNagoya: It seems I accepted the answer (0522 on 23Aug) before the correspondence and answers were finished. I appreciate you pointing this out (and will have to review again)but as Cypher was upvoted (and Earthling and I downvoted) have to take it you think that one is correct. – Tim Feb 18 '14 at 19:01

3 Answers3

7

I think it can be replaced with は and というのは here, as in [2] [1] at this Daijisen definition.

According to the 日本語文型辞典, this って indicates a subject, and can be an informal way in speech to state meanings/definitions or to add value/emphasis.

When used after nouns and adjectives to state meanings/definitions, this って can correspond with とは. When used after verbs, it can correspond with のは…だ, and の can be added or omitted, as in the following example:

都会で一人で暮らす（の）って、大変です。
"Living alone in the city is difficult."

Edit: Tried to update with more information.

cypher
  • 13,509
  • 6
  • 55
  • 126
5

It's quite the equivalent of "you know" in colloquial English.

One's favourite song, you know, it seems never to change.

As such, it's quite a theme particle, as @cypher mentioned.

Axioplase
  • 12,014
  • 29
  • 49
-3

I believe this って is the casual variant of と.

“The quotative particle to has a slightly more casual equivalent tte (te following n) which occurs very commonly in spoken language when linked with the verbal iu.”

That said, って doesn't have to be bound to an explicit predicate.

“/X + (t)te/ may occur as a more casual equivalent of /X + to ~ (t)te iû no wa/”

Japanese: The Spoken Language, part 2, lesson 18B, structural patterns

c.w.chambers
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3
    I think your answer refers to the って used in place of と in more casual forms of `と言う & と思う` which is different to to the って being used in the question. – Jeemusu Aug 22 '12 at 09:26
  • "Is this って　equivalent to 「と」？">>>No, it's not. "I believe this って is the casual variant of と.">>>This って is the casual variant of は. The「と」you're talking about is a 格助詞, whereas this「は」is a 係助詞. Look up って as a 係助詞 in your dictionary. –  Aug 23 '12 at 00:33
  • 「昔から好きな曲は、変わらない」makes sense, but 「昔から好きな曲と、変わらない」doesn't. You can say ジェームズさん"って"、やさしい人ですね or ジェームズさん"は"やさしい人ですね but not ジェームズさん"と"、やさしい人ですね. –  Aug 23 '12 at 00:39
  • @Chocolate: You can say 「昔から好きな曲と変わらない」, however, with no comma, as in the original question. See my answer. – Earthliŋ Aug 23 '12 at 01:46
  • @user1205935 Hmm... what does 昔から好きな曲と変わらない mean? It sounds unnatural and also agrammatical. It would require a subject at least, i.e. the structure should be「AはBと変わらない」. 昔から好きな曲"というものは"変わらないみたい(or変わらないようだ/変わらないらしい/変わらないものだ)/昔から好きな曲"というのは"変わらないみたい would make sense. –  Aug 23 '12 at 03:22
  • @Chocolate: It seems to me that simply casting 「って」as a casual variant of 「は」could be very misleading. Can it introduce a topic of conversation in the manner of 「は」: sure, but that may just as easily be analyzed as「って」being a elision of「って言うのは」(and there's probably historical usage to support that analysis). Does「って」carry to same contrastive connotation that「は」does, that is, can it be used in a construction such as「AってBって」parallel to the usage of「AはBは」: probably not. – c.w.chambers Aug 23 '12 at 03:43
  • @Chocolate: It needs the context of speaking about a particular song (or songs). The sentence then implies that this particular song is just like (lit. not different from) the song(s) the subject has liked since a long time ago. Just like you suggested, then, the structure would be 「AはBとかわらない」, which is what the OP guessed at in his question. But the topic 「Aは」 is not required to form a grammatical sentence. Still, the と variant of the sentence by itself sounds wrong without a context, like you said, but is grammatically correct and sensible in a context like the one above... – Earthliŋ Aug 23 '12 at 03:43
  • @user1205935 Hmm... so... you two both think that the って in 昔から好きな曲って変わらないみたい as "My favourite songs have not changed for many years" is equivalent to と(a quoting case particle), not は(a 係助詞)?? You both think that it can be rephrased as 好きな曲と昔から変わらないみたい without changing its meaning??? (Ah, btw a comma doesn't change the meaning in this case) –  Aug 23 '12 at 04:13
  • The meaning of the sentence with って is different from the sentence with と. I only wanted to point out to the OP that his interpreting って as と was not ungrammatical, although false. I think that って stems from と言うのは (as I stated in my answer), which in this case can be replaced by は without changing the meaning. (Precisely because there is only a subtle difference between は and と言うのは.) 好きな曲と昔から変わらないみたい is even further from the intended meaning and not relevant to the question... – Earthliŋ Aug 23 '12 at 04:40