Re: Strategies for disambiguating ad*

On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:12:04 +1000, Yahya Abdal-Aziz <yahya@...>
wrote:
[snip]
>THEORY:
>Here I'd like to note that before joining this list I'd never
>heard of the Topic - Comment structure, but it seems such
>a good fit to the patterns we see, that I'm now often torn
>between analysing a given (head-initial) sentence as Topic,
>Comment OR as Subject, Predicate.  I frankly don't know
>which approach is more fruitful or applicable.  Anyone?
[snip]

I am now reading "Subject and Topic" edited by Charles N. Li.  When I have
finished it, I may be able to answer your question.

I have read Li and Thompson's 1976 paper "Subject and Topic: A New Typology
of Language."  I can't claim I've absorbed it completely.

But FWIW based on the writings of authors who site that paper, I'd say that
topic-prominence is probably an areal feature of the linguistic areas
containing the natlangs you are asking about.  So chances are, they are
likely to be topic-prominent, whether or not they are also subject-
prominent.

BTW a language may be topic-prominent or subject-prominent; apparently some
are both; and some have been said to be neither.  In a language which is
both, your dilemma might persist.  I imagine it would be worse in a
language which is neither.  But just given the area from which your
languages come, I'd guess "topic" first, and guess "subject" only if that
didn't work; and be prepared for the possibility that neither "works".

Subject and topic are related; essentially, subjects are, diachronically
speaking, grammaticalized topics.  Topics always have to be definite; so,
in some languages, subjects have to be definite (though not in all).

-----
eldin
-----

Below is the first ten hits of a Google search.

http://www.google.com/\
search?q=\
topic+comment+subject+topic-prominent+subject-prominent+Li+Charles+N.

Scholarly articles for topic comment subject topic-prominent subject-
prominent Li Charles N.

 Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar - by Li - 445 citations
Topic and topic-comment constructions in Mandarin Chinese - by Shi - 19
citations
THE ACQUISITION OF TOPIC MARKING IN L1 CHINESE AND L1 ... - by Hendriks - 4
citations

Introduction
Subject-Prominent and Topic-Prominent Languages, Neither Subject-Prominent
nor ... "Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Language." In: Charles N. Li
(ed. ...
ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/Korean/Artikel03/I.htm - 13k - Cached - Similar pages

Subject vs. Topic
particularly noticeable among the topic-prominent languages since the topic-
comment ... *Charles N. Li & Sandra A. Thompson. 1976. "Subject and Topic:
A New ...
ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/Korean/Artikel03/II.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de ]

Citations: Subject and Topic: A new typology of language - Li ...Li,
Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1976. Subject and Topic: A New ... are
subject prominent (as opposed to eg Chinese, which is a topic prominent ...
citeseer.ist.psu.edu/context/264983/0 - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

[PDF] ALS 2005 Conference Paper Template
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
typology is shown below:. Subject-Prominent. Topic-Prominent ... Li,
Charles N. and Sandra. Thompson. 1976. Subject and Topic: A New Typology of
Language. ...
www.arts.monash.edu.au/ling/als/assets/korpi-topics.pdf - Similar pages

[RTF] Junichi Toyota
File Format: Rich Text Format - View as HTML
In subject-prominent (Sp) languages, the structure of sentences favours
a ... Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson 1976. Subject and topic: a new
typology ...
www.ling.helsinki.fi/kielitiede/20scl/Toyota.rtf - Similar pages

[PDF] Symposium on Diachronic and Synchronic Studies on the Syntax of ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Tagalog is [- topic prominent], [-subject prominent]. ... Li, Charles N.,
and Sandra A. Thompson. 1976. Subject and Topic: a new typology of.
language. ...
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/ealc/chinling/ articles/object_preposing_2002.pdf -

[PDF] A Functional Similarity between Bimanual Coordination and
Topic ...File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
structure (see discussion of topic-prominent languages and. subject-
prominent languages ... Li, Charles N. & Sandra A. Thompson. “Subject and
Topic: A new ...
amor.rz.hu-berlin.de/~h2816i3x/BimanualCoordination.pdf - Similar pages

[PDF] Sentence-internal Topics in Mandarin Chinese: The Case of Object ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
prominent], [+subject prominent], and Tagalog is [-topic prominent], [-
subject ... Subject and Topic, ed. by Charles N. Li, 25-55. New York:
Academic Press. ...
www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/publish/LL3.4-03-Paul-paper.pdf - Similar pages

[PDF] 01_Bruce_Ingham 1..9999
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
`subject prominent' languages. A topic prominent language is ... Li,
Charles, N. & Thompson, Sandra, 1976. `Subject and Topic; a new typology
of ...
www.blackwell-synergy.com/ doi/abs/10.1111/j.0079-1636.2003.00123.x -
Similar pages

[PDF] The syntactic development of school-age Chinese-speaking children ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
tory in subject-prominent languages, topic-prominent languages do not
require ... Li, Charles N. and Sandra A. Thompson, (1976). Subject and
topic: A new ...
www.extenza-eps.com/WDG/doi/pdf/10.1515/iral.2002.012 - Similar pages

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