Topic-prominent language

A topic-prominent language is a language that organizes its to emphasize the  structure of the sentence. The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N. Li and, who distinguished topic-prominent languages, such as and , from subject-prominent languages, such as.

In Li and Thompson's (1976) view, topic-prominent languages have morphology or syntax that highlights the distinction between the and the comment (what is said about the topic). Topic–comment structure may be independent of the of,  and.

Common features
Many topic-prominent languages share several syntactic features that have arisen because the languages have sentences that are structured around topics, rather than subjects and objects:


 * They tend to downplay the role of the, if a passive construction exists at all, since the main idea of passivization is to turn an object into a subject in languages whose subject is understood to be the topic by default.
 * They rarely have s or "dummy subjects" (s) like English it in It's raining.
 * They often have sentences with so-called "double subjects", actually a topic plus a subject. For example, the following sentence patterns are common in topic-prominent languages:


 * 這個人 個子 很高. $$\equiv_{Simplified}$$ 这个人 个子 很高.
 * zhège rén gèzi hěn gāo
 * "This person (topic) height (subject) tall."
 * その　ヤシは　葉っぱが　大きい.
 * sono yashi-wa happa-ga ookii
 * "That palm tree (topic) leaves (subject) are big."
 * その　ヤシは　葉っぱが　大きい.
 * sono yashi-wa happa-ga ookii
 * "That palm tree (topic) leaves (subject) are big."


 * They do not have, which are another way of indicating old vs. new information.
 * The distinction between subject and object is not reliably marked.

The Lolo–Burmese language has been described as highly topic-prominent, and Sara Rosen has demonstrated that "while every clause has an identifiable topic, it is often impossible to distinguish subject from direct object or agent from patient. There are no diagnostics that reliably identify subjects (or objects) in Lisu." This ambiguity is demonstrated in the following example:




 * làthyu || nya || ánà || khù || -a
 * people || topic || dog || bite || -declarative
 * colspan=5| a. "People, they bite dogs."
 * colspan=5|b. "People, dogs bite them."
 * }
 * colspan=5|b. "People, dogs bite them."
 * }
 * }

Examples
Examples of topic-prominent languages include s such as, , , , , , , and. , the, and tongues like the  are also topic-prominent. Modern studies have shown that  is a -prominent or topic- and subject-prominent language (see ). is also considered to be topic-prominent.

Mandarin Chinese



 * 張三 || 我 || 已經 || 見過 || 了. || → || Usual order*: || 我 || 已經 || 見過 || 張三 || 了.
 * Zhāng Sān || wǒ || yǐjing || jiàn-guò || le || || || wǒ || yǐjing || jiàn-guò || Zhāng Sān || le
 * Zhang San || I || already || see- || || || || I || already || see- || Zhang San ||
 * colspan=5| (As for) Zhang San, I've seen (him) already.|| || ||colspan=5| I've already seen Zhang San.
 * colspan=12| *Remark: Mandarin Chinese sentences are predominantly, but the language allows the object to be promoted to the topic of the sentence, resulting in an apparently word order.
 * }
 * colspan=5| (As for) Zhang San, I've seen (him) already.|| || ||colspan=5| I've already seen Zhang San.
 * colspan=12| *Remark: Mandarin Chinese sentences are predominantly, but the language allows the object to be promoted to the topic of the sentence, resulting in an apparently word order.
 * }
 * }

Japanese



 * 魚は || 鯛が || おいしい.
 * sakana-wa || tai-ga || oishi-i
 * fish- || red.snapper- || delicious-
 * colspan=3| When it comes to fish, red snapper is delicious. / Red snapper is a delicious fish.
 * }
 * fish- || red.snapper- || delicious-
 * colspan=3| When it comes to fish, red snapper is delicious. / Red snapper is a delicious fish.
 * }
 * }

Lakota



 * Miye || ṡuŋkawaḱaŋ eya || owiċabluspe || yelo.
 * be-the-one- || horse || catch--catch || .male
 * colspan=4| (As for) me, some horses: I caught them. → It was me who caught some horses. (I caught some horses.)
 * }
 * colspan=4| (As for) me, some horses: I caught them. → It was me who caught some horses. (I caught some horses.)
 * }

Turkish



 * Seni || yarın || yine || göreceğim.
 * you- || tomorrow || again || see-
 * colspan=4| You tomorrow again I'll see. → I'll see you again tomorrow.
 * }
 * colspan=4| You tomorrow again I'll see. → I'll see you again tomorrow.
 * }