Topic - Revision history

NBlöcher: /* See also */

2014-05-23T08:05:55Z

NBlöcher: /* See also */

2014-05-23T08:02:53Z

NBlöcher at 08:01, 23 May 2014

2014-05-23T08:01:56Z

Haspelmath at 03:37, 12 July 2009

2009-07-12T03:37:57Z

Haspelmath: /* Links */

2009-07-05T14:47:20Z

Links

Haspelmath: /* See also */

2009-07-05T14:46:49Z

Haspelmath at 14:08, 5 July 2009

2009-07-05T14:08:25Z

Haspelmath at 14:07, 5 July 2009

2009-07-05T14:07:14Z

Wohlgemuth: /* Examples */ sic

2009-06-10T10:52:26Z

Examples: sic

Wohlgemuth: + utrecht

2009-06-10T10:51:47Z

+ utrecht

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 * [[Topic-comment-distinction]]
 * [[Topic-prominent Language]]
 ===Link===

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 * [[Topic chaining]]
 * [[Topic-comment-distinction]]
 ===Link===

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 [[Category:Information structure]]
 [[Category:General]]
 {{FromWP|en|English|Topic_%28linguistics%29}}

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 The '''topic''' is that part of an utterance about which something is said (the [[comment]]). Usually, the topic is [[given]] in the [[discourse]], the comment is [[new information]] about it. The topic is thus the part of the proposition that is being talked about ([[Predication|predicated]]). Once stated, the topic is therefore "old news", i.e. the things already mentioned and understood.
 ===Examples===
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 ===References===
 *Givón, Talmy. 1983a. Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross-language study. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
 *Lambrecht, Knud. 1994. Information structure and sentence form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 *Li, Charles N./Sandra A. Thompson (1976): "Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Languages", in: Li, Charles N. (ed.) Subject and Topic, New York/San Francisco/London: Academic Press, 457-490.

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 * [[Topic-comment-distinction]]
-===Links===
+===Link===
 * [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Topic&lemmacode=178 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics]

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 ===See also===
-* [[Topic marker]]
+* [[Topic chaining]]
 * [[Topic-comment-distinction]]

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 ===Subtypes===
 *[[sentence topic vs. discourse topic]]
+*[[stage topic]]
 === Examples ===

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-'''Topic''' is that part of an utterance about which something is said (the [[comment]]). Usually, the topic is given in the [[discourse]], the comment is new information about it. The topic (or '''theme''') is thus the part of the proposition that is being talked about ([[Predication|predicated]]). Once stated, the topic is therefore "old news", i.e. the things already mentioned and understood. For example, the topic is emphasized ''like this'' in the following [[sentence]]s:
+The '''topic''' is that part of an utterance about which something is said (the [[comment]]). Usually, the topic is [[given]] in the [[discourse]], the comment is [[new information]] about it. The topic is thus the part of the proposition that is being talked about ([[Predication|predicated]]). Once stated, the topic is therefore "old news", i.e. the things already mentioned and understood.
   ''The dog'' bit the little girl.
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   ''The little girl'', the dog bit her.
 One test for determining the topic of a sentence A is by formulating a question Q to which A might be the answer. The topic should then be the information common to both Q and A.
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 In this context her ('Mary') is the topic of sentence A.
-The topic is also called ''[[theme]]'', and the predicate that gives information on the topic is also called ''[[rheme]]''.
+===Subtypes===
 A distinction must be made between the ''sentence-level topic'' and the ''discourse-level topic''. Suppose we are talking about Mike's house:
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 In (i)a the subject ''Taroo'' is marked for TOPIC by ''wa''<nowiki>; in (i)b </nowiki>''Taroo'' is marked for SUBJECT by ''ga''.
 ===See also===
 * [[Topic marker]]
 * [[Topic-comment-distinction]]
 ===References===
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 *Li, Charles N./Sandra A. Thompson (1976): "Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Languages", in: Li, Charles N. (ed.) Subject and Topic, New York/San Francisco/London: Academic Press, 457-490.
 * Reinhart, T. 1981. ''Pragmatics and linguistics: An analysis of sentence topics.,'' Philosophica 27, 53-94
 {{dc}}

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 === Examples ===
 Many [[language]]s, like [[English language|English]], resort to different means in order to signal a new topic, such as:
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 Signaling the topic as such serves the pragmatic function of avoiding repetition. In many languages, old topics are replaced with a [[pronoun]]. [[Pro-drop language]]s like Japanese tend simply to delete the old topic, which is then left implicit throughout the discourse until a new one appears.
 ===In [[syntax]] ===