Re: Topics and foci/focuses... Wow, now I get it!!!

On Sat, May 05, 2001 at 09:43:18PM -0400, Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:

> So what did he do?
> - He  like  came over to me and...
>      [topic]
>
> What's that "like" doing? Looks like topic marking to me.
Well, just one thing.  English, unlike Japanese, is mostly a head-initial
language.  Our markers (like prepositions) usually govern the following
words, not the preceding ones, and the use of "like" and "just" feels
like it's connected to the words that follow them, to me.

So, is "focus" the opposite of "topic"?  Perhaps "like" and "just" in
English are focus markers.

Russian marks topic/focus using word order, BTW.  Since the word order
is pretty free otherwise, it's used for topic/focus a lot more that the
occasional (and rather strong) usage of word order for topic/focus in
English.  I've forgotten the details.

Amanda

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