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I am trying to understand the grammar behind "[noun]って".

I looked up some examples on space alc web, and 人って seems to mean people, someone, or some person. I have seen other examples of the [noun]って usage, so I guess its common but probably I am missing something.

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    Most likely the quotation particle って, which can behave a lot like the topic marker in many cases. The specific context would be useful to answer.
    – Darius Jahandarie
    Jul 10, 2013 at 23:03

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って is a colloquial particle and has two main functions.

  1. Being used as a colloquial topic marker (instead of は or とは), e.g.

    人ってすごいよね。
    People are awesome.

  2. Being used as a quotation marker (instead of と or という), e.g.

    変な人って言ってたよ。
    She said you are a little weird.

    人って言葉は何か変だな。
    The word "hito" is kinda weird.

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  • I had read somewhere that this grew out of といって, and that this literal "talking about" sense is how this construction came to be used in place of the は topic marker, and the と quotation marker.
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Jun 29, 2014 at 7:52
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    @EiríkrÚtlendi That's what I had thought until someone pointed me to a dictionary. The dictionaries usually say って comes from とて.
    – Earthliŋ ♦
    Jun 29, 2014 at 12:43

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