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United Under Topic Prominence
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United Under Topic Prominence
Since Li & Thompson’s (1976) seminal work on the typology of languages along the line of topic prominence and subject prominence, it has become well-known that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English a subject-prominent language. This paper argues that in addition to the double subject construction (e.g. Na-ke shu, yezi hen da ‘Speaking of that tree, its leaves are big’), which figures prominently in the discussion of the topic prominence of Chinese, there are a number of other constructions or phenomena that might look like disparate from each other on the surface but are in fact united under topic prominence. First, topicalization like Na-ben shu, wo kan-guo is natural and often heard in spoken Chinese, its English counterpart That book, I read before is not acceptable to most speakers of English. Second, while sentences like Di sao-le are grammatical in Chinese, their counterparts in English like The floor swept are ungrammatical. Likewise, resultatives like Zhuozi ca-ganjing-le and Wo-de yao dou xi-teng-le are well-formed in Chinese, their English counterparts The table wiped clean and My waist washed painful are ungrammatical. Third, de-extent sentences like Zhuozi ca-de hen ganjing (‘The table was wiped very clean’) and Wo-de yao xi-de dou teng-le (‘As a result of the washing, even my waist became painful’) which are counterparts of the resultative examples above, are also grammatical in Chinese. In addition, de-extent sentences like Naxie yifu xi-de wo yao dou teng le (‘I washed those clothes and they even got my waist painful’) are well-formed in the language. Fourth, unaccusative external possession constructions like Zhangsan qi sui si-le fuqin and Zhangsan lan-le henduo li are grammatical in Chinese, their English counterparts Zhangsan died his father at the age of seven and Zhangsan rotted many pears are bad. Although the above constructions might look disparate from each other at first glance, they are united by the fact that the sentence-initial NPs of these constructions are all topics and the rest of each sentence serves as a comment. Further, the grammaticality of the above constructions in Chinese and the contrast between Chinese and English in their behaviors related to these constructions cannot be accounted for if we do not take into consideration the fact that the former is a topic-prominent language and the latter a subject-prominent language. In other words, all the constructions considered above are united by the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language. Topic prominence is an important aspect of Chinese and is of significance in the teaching of the language to students whose native language is English or some other Indo-European language. This is because Chinese and Indo-European languages have a quality difference, namely that the former is a topic-prominent language and the latter subject-prominent languages. As a result, on the instructor’s part it is necessary to at least briefly mention and discuss this difference so that students can better appreciate the topic-prominent nature of Chinese.
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United Under Topic Prominence
Since Li & Thompson’s (1976) seminal work on the typology of languages along
the line of topic prominence and subject prominence, it has become well-known that
Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English a subject-prominent language. This
paper argues that in addition to the double subject construction (e.g. Na-ke shu, yezi hen
da ‘Speaking of that tree, its leaves are big’), which figures prominently in the discussion
of the topic prominence of Chinese, there are a number of other constructions or
phenomena that might look like disparate from each other on the surface but are in fact
united under topic prominence.
First, topicalization like Na-ben shu, wo kan-guo is natural and often heard in
spoken Chinese, its English counterpart That book, I read before is not acceptable to most
speakers of English.
Second, while sentences like Di sao-le are grammatical in Chinese, their
counterparts in English like The floor swept are ungrammatical. Likewise, resultatives
like Zhuozi ca-ganjing-le and Wo-de yao dou xi-teng-le are well-formed in Chinese, their
English counterparts The table wiped clean and My waist washed painful are
ungrammatical.
Third, de-extent sentences like Zhuozi ca-de hen ganjing (‘The table was wiped
very clean’) and Wo-de yao xi-de dou teng-le (‘As a result of the washing, even my waist
became painful’) which are counterparts of the resultative examples above, are also
grammatical in Chinese. In addition, de-extent sentences like Naxie yifu xi-de wo yao dou
teng le (‘I washed those clothes and they even got my waist painful’) are well-formed in
the language.
Fourth, unaccusative external possession constructions like Zhangsan qi sui si-le
fuqin and Zhangsan lan-le henduo li are grammatical in Chinese, their English
counterparts Zhangsan died his father at the age of seven and Zhangsan rotted many
pears are bad.
Although the above constructions might look disparate from each other at first
glance, they are united by the fact that the sentence-initial NPs of these constructions are
all topics and the rest of each sentence serves as a comment. Further, the grammaticality
of the above constructions in Chinese and the contrast between Chinese and English in
their behaviors related to these constructions cannot be accounted for if we do not take
into consideration the fact that the former is a topic-prominent language and the latter a
subject-prominent language. In other words, all the constructions considered above are
united by the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language.
Topic prominence is an important aspect of Chinese and is of significance in the
teaching of the language to students whose native language is English or some other
Indo-European language. This is because Chinese and Indo-European languages have a
quality difference, namely that the former is a topic-prominent language and the latter
subject-prominent languages. As a result, on the instructor’s part it is necessary to at least
briefly mention and discuss this difference so that students can better appreciate the
topic-prominent nature of Chinese.
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