～は～となっている - Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

it is (has been)
have/has become
happen to be
has been established

Structure

  • Noun + は / が + Noun + となっている
  • Noun + は / が + な-Adjective + となっている

となっている can also appear as a conjunctive:
となっていて or となっており¹

[Very often translated as “to be”・Can be rephrased to になっている, but となっている is more formal and has more of a sense of finality]

[Expresses that some change has happened and persists or implies that something has reached its final stage]

[Often used to explain/convey a new fact to readers/listeners (e.g. in comparison with the previous state of something, expressing a rule, tradition, etc.)]

[¹In writing, ており is not considered humble language, just a more formal version of ていて (conjunctive)]

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#2

Could you explain why the と particle is used here? With which meaning? If it is as the quotation particle, i don’t see the logic behind it.

#3

"The verb なる means to be or to become, to turn into.

Adding と and に in front it changes the meaning a bit.

The basic differences? While になる is a natural change, となる implies having reached a final stage."

From this article:
https://maggiesensei.com/2010/12/10/となる-vs-になる　-to-naru-vs-ni-naru/

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#4

Based on the post below on Japanese StackExchange, it seems that it’s the quotative particle, although I can’t find a good explanation to why.

Here are some detailed nuances based on my studies.

となる is similar to になる but with the following changes:

  • となる can only be used with nouns.
  • となる is more formal and not used often in conversation.
  • となる has a dramatic tone.
  • となる implies reaching a “final stage” as @jptr mentioned. It implies the stage requires a lot of work or was an extraordinary change.
    • For example, with 母になる vs. 母となる, the latter implies that there were hardships along the way, or the person has waited to become a mother for a long time and they have “finally” achieved it.
  • となる only used with discrete changes, whereas になる can be used with either discrete or continuous changes.
    • An example of a discrete change would be an island becoming inhabited, since this is becomes the state immediately when the last person leaves.
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GrammarInTheWild - October 2021
#5

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Formal Conjunctive? Is this from a later lesson? となっていて is also accepted as an answer – which I’m more familiar with – but it doesn’t seem like the main answer.

#6

The grammar point for the formal conjunctive is a bit earlier in N3, but いる is a special case: It’s not used in this form and instead replaced with おる.

#7

oh that grammar point. tbh, I never really understood that point.