A topic-prominent language is a language that organizes its syntax to emphasize the topic–comment structure of the sentence. The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N. Li and Sandra Thompson, who distinguished topic-prominent languages, such as Korean and Japanese, from subject-prominent languages, such as English.
In Li and Thompson's (1976) view, topic-prominent languages have morphology or syntax that highlights the distinction between the topic and the comment (what is said about the topic). Topic–comment structure may be independent of the syntactic ordering of subject, verb and object.
Many topic-prominent languages share several syntactic features that have arisen because the languages have sentences that are structured around topics, rather than subjects and objects:
They tend to downplay the role of the passive voice, if a passive construction exists at all, since the main idea of passivization is to turn an object into a subject in languages whose subject is understood to be the topic by default.
They rarely have expletives or "dummy subjects" (pleonastic pronouns) like English it in It's raining.
They often have sentences with so-called "double subjects", actually a topic plus a subject. For example, the following sentence patterns are common in topic-prominent languages:
"That palm tree (topic) leaves (subject) are big."
They do not have articles, which are another way of indicating old vs. new information.
The distinction between subject and object is not reliably marked.
The Lolo–Burmese language Lisu has been described as highly topic-prominent,[1] and Sara Rosen has demonstrated that "while every clause has an identifiable topic, it is often impossible to distinguish subject from direct object or agent from patient. There are no diagnostics that reliably identify subjects (or objects) in Lisu."[2] This ambiguity is demonstrated in the following example:[1]
làthyu
people
nya
TOP
ánà
dog
khù
bite
-a
-DECL
làthyu nya ánà khù -a
people TOP dog bite -DECL
a. "People, they bite dogs." b. "People, dogs bite them."
*Remark: Mandarin Chinese sentences are predominantly SVO, but the language allows the object to be promoted to the topic of the sentence, resulting in an apparently OSV word order.
Japanese
魚は
sakana-wa
fish-TOP
鯛が
tai-ga
red.snapper-NOM
おいしい。
oishi-i
delicious-NPST
魚は 鯛が おいしい。
sakana-wa tai-ga oishi-i
fish-TOP red.snapper-NOM delicious-NPST
When it comes to fish, red snapper is delicious. / Red snapper is a delicious fish.
^ abLi, Charles N.; Thompson, Sandra A. (1976). "Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Language". In Charles N. Li (ed.). Subject and Topic. New York: Academic Press. pp. 457–489. ISBN978-0-12-447350-8.
^Rosen, Sara Thomas (2007). "Structured Events, Structured Discourse". In Ramchand & Reiss (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-924745-5.
topic, prominent, language, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor,. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Topic prominent language news newspapers books scholar JSTOR November 2008 Learn how and when to remove this template message A topic prominent language is a language that organizes its syntax to emphasize the topic comment structure of the sentence The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N Li and Sandra Thompson who distinguished topic prominent languages such as Korean and Japanese from subject prominent languages such as English In Li and Thompson s 1976 view topic prominent languages have morphology or syntax that highlights the distinction between the topic and the comment what is said about the topic Topic comment structure may be independent of the syntactic ordering of subject verb and object Contents 1 Common features 2 Examples 2 1 Mandarin Chinese 2 2 Japanese 2 3 Lakota 2 4 Turkish 3 See also 4 ReferencesCommon features EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message Many topic prominent languages share several syntactic features that have arisen because the languages have sentences that are structured around topics rather than subjects and objects They tend to downplay the role of the passive voice if a passive construction exists at all since the main idea of passivization is to turn an object into a subject in languages whose subject is understood to be the topic by default They rarely have expletives or dummy subjects pleonastic pronouns like English it in It s raining They often have sentences with so called double subjects actually a topic plus a subject For example the following sentence patterns are common in topic prominent languages Mandarin dd 這個这个zhege人人ren個子个子gezi很很hen高 高 gao traditional simplified 這個 人 個子 很 高 这个 人 个子 很 高 zhege ren gezi hen gao This person topic height subject very tall Japanese dd そのsonoヤシはyashi wa葉っぱがhappa ga大きい ookiiその ヤシは 葉っぱが 大きい sono yashi wa happa ga ookii That palm tree topic leaves subject are big They do not have articles which are another way of indicating old vs new information The distinction between subject and object is not reliably marked The Lolo Burmese language Lisu has been described as highly topic prominent 1 and Sara Rosen has demonstrated that while every clause has an identifiable topic it is often impossible to distinguish subject from direct object or agent from patient There are no diagnostics that reliably identify subjects or objects in Lisu 2 This ambiguity is demonstrated in the following example 1 lathyupeoplenyaTOPanadogkhubite a DECLlathyu nya ana khu apeople TOP dog bite DECLa People they bite dogs b People dogs bite them Examples EditExamples of topic prominent languages include East Asian languages such as Chinese Japanese Korean Vietnamese Malay Indonesian Singaporean English and Malaysian English Turkish 3 4 Hungarian 5 Somali and Native American languages like the Siouan languages are also topic prominent Modern linguistic studies have shown that Brazilian Portuguese is a topic prominent or topic and subject prominent language 6 7 see Brazilian Portuguese Topic prominent language American Sign Language is also considered to be topic prominent 8 Mandarin Chinese Edit 張三Zhang SanZhang San我wǒI已經yǐjingalready見過jian guosee EXP了 leRES張三 我 已經 見過 了 Zhang San wǒ yǐjing jian guo le Zhang San I already see EXP RES As for Zhang San I ve seen him already Usual order 我wǒI已經yǐjingalready見過jian guosee EXP張三Zhang SanZhang San了 leRES我 已經 見過 張三 了 wǒ yǐjing jian guo Zhang San leI already see EXP Zhang San RESI ve already seen Zhang San Remark Mandarin Chinese sentences are predominantly SVO but the language allows the object to be promoted to the topic of the sentence resulting in an apparently OSV word order Japanese Edit 魚はsakana wafish TOP鯛がtai gared snapper NOMおいしい oishi idelicious NPST魚は 鯛が おいしい sakana wa tai ga oishi ifish TOP red snapper NOM delicious NPSTWhen it comes to fish red snapper is delicious Red snapper is a delicious fish Lakota Edit Miyebe the one 1SGṡuŋkawaḱaŋhorseeyaDET PLowiċabluspecatch 3PL UND 1SG ACT catchyelo DECL maleMiye ṡuŋkawaḱaŋ eya owiċabluspe yelo be the one 1SG horse DET PL catch 3PL UND 1SG ACT catch DECL male As for me some horses I caught them It was me who caught some horses I caught some horses Turkish Edit Seniyou ACCyarintomorrowyineagaingorecegim see FUT 1SGSeni yarin yine gorecegim you ACC tomorrow again see FUT 1SGYou tomorrow again I ll see I ll see you again tomorrow See also EditTopic marker Topic commentReferences Edit a b Li Charles N Thompson Sandra A 1976 Subject and Topic A New Typology of Language In Charles N Li ed Subject and Topic New York Academic Press pp 457 489 ISBN 978 0 12 447350 8 Rosen Sara Thomas 2007 Structured Events Structured Discourse In Ramchand amp Reiss ed The Oxford Handbook of Linguistic Interfaces Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 924745 5 http www sjsu edu faculty watkins langtyp htm Typology of Language Grammars San Jose State University http www turkofoni org files a typological approach to sentence structure in turkish yilmaz kili arslan trakya uni pdf A Typological Approach to Sentence Structure in Turkish Yilmaz Kilicaslan Kenesei Istvan Vago Robert M Fenyvesi Anna 2002 1 12 Topic Hungarian Routledge pp 172 181 ISBN 978 1 134 97646 1 Pontes E 1987 O topico no portugues do Brasil Pontes Editores As Construcoes De Topico No Portugues Do Brasil Uma Analise Sintatico Discursiva Em Tempo Real Filologia org br Retrieved 2012 12 24 Schick Brenda Sue 2006 Advances in the Sign Language Development of Deaf Children Oxford University Press p 36 ISBN 0 19 518094 1 Retrieved 2008 09 23 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Topic prominent language amp oldid 1128294940, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
