I was wondering if prepositional phrases alone were strong enough to bring the relative pronoun *the* before the nouns that they modify.

Upon reading (2) do you feel the *people* is restricted or specified with *the* because they are already mentioned before? Or, the sentence (2) standing alone, do you feel the *people* has *the* because of *in Japan*?

> 1. People in Japan speak Japanese.

> 2. The people in Japan speak Japanese.

Also, do you think my paraphrases are correct (is it wrong to use *that are* here)?

> 1. People in Japan speak Japanese. = People [that are] in Japan speak Japanese. = Probably many but not necessarily all the people [that are] in Japan speak Japanese.

> 2. The people in Japan speak Japanese. = The people [that are] in Japan speak Japanese. = All the people [that are] in Japan speak Japanese.