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Topicalization is a mechanism of
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituenc ...
that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic by having it appear at the front of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position further to the right). This involves a phrasal movement of
determiners A determiner, also called determinative ( abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determine ...
,
prepositions Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
, and
verbs A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descrip ...
to sentence-initial position. Topicalization often results in a discontinuity and is thus one of a number of established discontinuity types, the other three being ''wh''-fronting,
scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing (as a “scrambl ...
, and
extraposition Extraposition is a mechanism of syntax that alters word order in such a manner that a relatively "heavy" constituent appears to the right of its canonical position. Extraposing a constituent results in a discontinuity and in this regard, it i ...
. Topicalization is also used as a constituency test; an expression that can be topicalized is deemed a constituent. The topicalization of
arguments An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...
in English is rare, whereas circumstantial
adjuncts In brewing, adjuncts are unmalted grains (such as corn, rice, rye, oats, barley, and wheat) or grain products used in brewing beer which supplement the main mash ingredient (such as malted barley). This is often done with the intention of cut ...
are often topicalized. Most languages allow topicalization, and in some languages, topicalization occurs much more frequently and/or in a much less
marked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
manner than in English. Topicalization in English has also received attention in the pragmatics literature.


Examples

Typical cases of topicalization are illustrated with the following examples: ::a. The boys roll rocks for entertainment. ::b. For entertainment, the boys roll rocks. -Topicalization of the adjunct ''for entertainment'' ::a. Everyone refused to answer because the pressure was too great. ::b. Because the pressure was too great, everyone refused to answer. - Topicalization of the adjunct ''because the pressure was too great'' ::a. I won't eat that pizza. ::b. That pizza, I won't eat. - Topicalization of the object argument ''that pizza'' ::a. I am terrified of those dogs. ::b. Those dogs, I am terrified of. - Topicalization of the object argument ''those dogs'' Assuming that the a-sentences represent canonical word order, the b-sentences contain instances of topicalization. The constituent in bold is fronted to establish it as topic. The first two examples, which use topicalized adjuncts, are typical, but the last two examples with topicalized object arguments are comparatively rare. The appearance of the demonstrative determiners ''that'' and ''those'' is important since without them, topicalization of an argument seems less acceptable: ''A pizza I won't eat''. Topicalization can occur across long distances: ::a. I thought you said that Tom believes the explanation needs such examples. ::b. Such examples I thought you said that Tom believes the explanation needs. - Topicalization of the object argument ''such examples'' over a long distance


Further examples

Topicalization is similar to ''wh''-movement insofar as the constituents that can be ''wh''-fronted can also be topicalized: ::a. Bill is living in that one house on the hill. ::b. Which house is Bill living in? - ''Wh''-fronting of NP resulting in preposition stranding ::c. That one house on the hill Bill is living in. - Topicalization of NP resulting in preposition stranding ::a. Shelly has indeed uncovered part of our plan. ::b. What has Shelly indeed uncovered part of? - ''Wh''-fronting out of object NP resulting in preposition stranding ::c. Our plan Shelly has indeed uncovered part of. - Topicalization out of object NP resulting in preposition stranding Also, topicalization is similar to ''wh''-fronting insofar as the islands and barriers to ''wh''-fronting are also islands and barriers to topicalization: ::a. The description of his aunt was really funny. ::b. *Whose aunt was the description of really funny? - ''Wh''-fronting impossible out of a subject in English ::c. *His aunt the description of was really funny. - Topicalization impossible out of a subject in English ::a. He relaxes after he's played Starcraft. ::b. *What does he relax after he's played? - ''Wh''-fronting impossible out of adjunct clause ::c. *Starcraft he relaxes after he's played. - Topicalization impossible out of adjunct clause ::a. She approves of the suggestion to make pasta. ::b. *What does she approve of the suggestion to make? - ''Wh''-fronting impossible out of complex NP ::c. *Pasta she approves of the suggestion to make. - Topicalization impossible out of complex NP Those examples illustrate the similar behavior of topicalization and ''wh''-fronting. Further data, which will not be produced here, could show, however, that topicalization is unlike the other two major discontinuity types:
scrambling Scrambling is a mountaineering term for ascending steep terrain using one's hands to assist in holds and balance.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. It is also used to describe terrain that falls between hiking and rock climbing (as a “scrambl ...
and
extraposition Extraposition is a mechanism of syntax that alters word order in such a manner that a relatively "heavy" constituent appears to the right of its canonical position. Extraposing a constituent results in a discontinuity and in this regard, it i ...
.


Theoretical analyses

The theoretical analysis of topicalization can vary greatly depending in part on the theory of sentence structure that one adopts. If one assumes the layered structures associated with many
phrase structure grammar The term phrase structure grammar was originally introduced by Noam Chomsky as the term for grammar studied previously by Emil Post and Axel Thue (Post canonical systems). Some authors, however, reserve the term for more restricted grammars in th ...
s, all instances of topicalization will involve a discontinuity. If, in contrast, less layered structures are assumed as for example in
dependency grammar Dependency grammar (DG) is a class of modern grammatical theories that are all based on the dependency relation (as opposed to the ''constituency relation'' of phrase structure) and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesni� ...
, then many instances of topicalization do not involve a discontinuity, but rather just
inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
. This point is illustrated here first using flatter structures that lack a finite VP-constituent (which means the entire sentence has the status of a large VP). Both constituency- and dependency-based analyses are given. The example itself is a piece of Yoda wisdom (as he speaks to Anakin), and is certainly of questionable acceptability in this regard. It is, however, perfectly understandable: :: The upper two trees show the analysis using flat constituency-based structures that lack a finite VP
constituent Constituent or constituency may refer to: Politics * An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization * Advocacy group or constituency * Constituent assembly * Constituencies of Namibia Other meanings * Consti ...
, and the lower two trees are dependency-based, whereby dependency inherently rejects the existence of finite VP-constituents. The noteworthy aspect of these examples is that topicalization does not result in a discontinuity, since there are no crossing lines in the trees. What this means is that such cases can be analyzed purely in terms of inversion. The topicalized expression simply "inverts" to the other side of its head. Instead of the flat trees just examined, most constituency grammars posit more layered structures that include a finite VP constituent. These more layered structures are likely to address topicalization in terms of movement or copying, as illustrated with the following two trees: :: Tree a. shows the canonical word order again, and tree b. illustrates what is known as the movement or copying analysis. The topicalized expression is first generated in its canonical position but is then copied to the front of the sentence, the original then being deleted. The movement analysis of discontinuities is one possible way to address those instances of topicalization that cannot be explained in terms of inversion. An alternative explanation is feature passing. One assumes that the topicalized expression is not moved or copied to the clause-initial position, but rather it is "base" generated there. Instead of movement, there is feature passing, however. A link of a sort is established between the topicalized expression and its
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
. The link is the path along which information about the topicalized expression is passed to the governor of that expression. A piece of Yoda wisdom is again used for illustration, the full sentence being ''Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin'': :: The nodes in red mark the path of feature passing. Features (=information) about the topicalized expression are passed rightward through (and down) the tree structure to the governor of that expression. This path is present in both analyses, i.e. in the constituency-based a-analysis on the left and in the dependency-based b-analysis on the right. Since topicalization can occur over long distances, feature passing must also occur over long distances. The final example shows a dependency-based analysis of a sentence where the feature passing path is quite long: :: Information about the topicalized ''such nonsense'' is passed along the path marked in red down to the governor of the topicalized expression ''spouting''. The words corresponding to the nodes in red form a catena (Latin for 'chain', plural ''catenae'').See Osborne et al. (2013) concerning catenae. A theory of topicalization is then built up in part by examining the nature of these catenae for feature passing.


See also

*
Catena (linguistics) In linguistics, a catena (English pronunciation: , plural catenas or catenae; from Latin for "chain") is a unit of syntax and morphology, closely associated with dependency grammars. It is a more flexible and inclusive unit than the constituent ...
*
Constituent (linguistics) In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that function as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The constituent structure of sentences is identified using ''tests for constituents''. These tests apply to a porti ...
*
Dependency grammar Dependency grammar (DG) is a class of modern grammatical theories that are all based on the dependency relation (as opposed to the ''constituency relation'' of phrase structure) and that can be traced back primarily to the work of Lucien Tesni� ...
*
Discontinuity (linguistics) In linguistics, a discontinuity occurs when a given word or phrase is separated from another word or phrase that it modifies in such a manner that a direct connection cannot be established between the two without incurring crossing lines in the tr ...
*
Phrase structure grammar The term phrase structure grammar was originally introduced by Noam Chomsky as the term for grammar studied previously by Emil Post and Axel Thue (Post canonical systems). Some authors, however, reserve the term for more restricted grammars in th ...


Notes

{{Reflist, 2


References

*Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Eroms, P. Hellwig, H. Heringer, and H. Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. ''Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research.'' Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. *Allerton, D. 1979. ''Essentials of grammatical theory: A consensus view of syntax and morphology.'' London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. *Borsley, R. 1991. ''Syntactic theory: A unified approach.'' London: Edward Arnold. *Grewendorf, G. 1988 ''Aspekte der deutschen Syntax: Eine Rektions-Bindungs-Analyse.'' Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. *Groß, T. and T. Osborne 2009. Toward a practical dependency grammar theory of discontinuities. ''SKY Journal of Linguistics'' 22, 43-90. *Hinrichs, E.W. and Nakazawa, T 2000. Partial VP and split NP topicalization in German: an HPSG analysis ''Studies in contemporary phrase structure grammar'' *Kuhn, J, 1998. ''Resource sensitivity in the syntax-semantics interface and the German split NP construction.'' Universität Stuttgart, Fakultät Philosophie. * Haegeman, L. 2006. ''Thinking syntactically: A guide to argumentation and analysis.'' Malden, MA: Blackwell. *Mel’čuk, I. 2003. Levels of dependency description: Concepts and problems. In Ágel et al. (eds.), ''Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research'', vol.1, 188-229. * Napoli, D. 1993. ''Syntax: Theory and problems.'' New York: Oxford University Press. *Osborne, T., M. Putnam, and T. Groß 2012. Catenae: Introducing a novel unit of syntactic analysis. ''Syntax'' 15, 4, 354-396. *Ouhalla, J 1999. ''Introducing Transformational Grammar: From Principles and Parameters to Minimalism'', second edition. London: Arnold. *Poole, G. 2002. ''Syntactic theory''. New York: Palgrave. * Prince, Ellen. 1998. On the limits of syntax, with reference to topicalization and left-dislocation. In: Cullicover, P., McNally, L. (Eds.), ''Syntax and Semantics'', vol. 29. Academic Press, New York, pp. 281–302 * Radford, A. 2005. ''English syntax: An introduction.'' Cambridge University Press. *Sportiche, D, H. Koopman, and E. Stabler. 2014. ''An Introduction to Syntactic Analysis and Theory.'' Malden, MA: Blackwell. *Starosta, S. 2003. Lexicase grammar. In Ágel et al. (eds.), ''Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research,'' vol.1, 270-281. * Tesnière, Lucien 1959. ''Éleménts de syntaxe structurale.'' Paris: Klincksieck. *van Hoof, H. (2006). ''Split topicalization''. In M. Everaert, & H. van Riemsdijk (Eds.), (pp. 410-465). Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470996591.ch62 *van Riemsdijk, H. (1989a). Movement and Regeneration. In: ''Dialect Variation and the Theory of Grammar.'' Paola Benincà (ed.), 105–136. Dordrecht: Foris. Generative syntax Syntax Word order