Re: Question?

---Adam Kasanof <AKasanof@...> wrote:
> My friend said that she had heard that there were two types of
languages:
> "predicate" and "comment."  In a predicate language, like English,
you would
> say: "The man kicks the table." In a comment langauge (like
Chinese?) you
> would say: "As for the table, the man kicks it." Now, my friend's
question:
> are there any other types of language than predicate and comment?
   I will, of course, defer to the great Oracles of Knowledge, but in
my limited sphere of knowledge, the answer is "no."
   Along similar lines, this is the first time that I've heard
topic-prominent languages called "comment" languages. Come to think of
it, could we then by analogy call English a focus-prominent language?
   In my search for more information on topic-prominent languages, I
came across something that some may find interesting:
   Characteristics of Topic-prominent languages
1. Surface coding of topic, not necessarily for subject.
   Examples: In Mandarin, the topic of the sentence is sentence
initial, while in Japanese, topic is marked with "wa" and in Korean,
"(n)yn"

2. No passives.

3. No dummy subjects (that is, no empty "it," like "_It_ is very hot
in here.") Ex: Mandarin "Zhe\r hen re\": "here very hot".

4. "Double subject" constructions. Ex. from Korean:
   pihengi-nyn   747-ka  khy-ta
   airplane-TOP     -SUB big-STATE
   "As for the airplane, the 747 is big." (Rough translation, not
above errors.)

5. Null pronominals, controlled by topic.
   Mandarin: "Ne\ike shu\ yezi   da\, suoyi wo bu  xihuan."
              that   tree leaves big  so    I  not like
             "That tree, the leaves are big, so I don't like _it_."

6. Strong tendancy to be verb-final. (Expect for trigger languages,
which are--thus far--verb initial.)

7. No constraints on grammatical role of topic constituent.

8. Topic-comment structure is basic; IOW, declare the topic, then
comment on it.

   For more information, ask someone who knows a little more than I!
   :Peter
==
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