Topic-comment
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, the topic (or theme) is informally what is being talked about, and the comment (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic. Although this general nature of topic–comment dichotomy is generally accepted, anything beyond that is a matter of great controversy.
The distinction was probably first suggested by Henri Weil
in 1844.
Georg von der Gabelentz distinguished psychological subject (roughly topic) and
psychological object (roughly focus). In the Prague school, the
dichotomy, termed topic–focus articulation, has been studied mainly by Vilém Mathesius
, Jan Firbas
, František Daneš, Petr Sgall
and Eva Hajičová
. They have been concerned
mainly by its relation to intonation and word-order. The work of
Michael Halliday
in the 1960s is probably responsible for bringing the ideas to Functional Grammar
.
Note that in some categorizations, topic refers only to the contrastive theme and comment to the noncontrastive theme + rheme.
In an ordinary English sentence, the subject is normally the same as the topic. For example, the topic is emphasized in italics in the following sentences:
Although these sentences mean the same thing, they have different topics. The first sentence is about the dog, while the second is about the little girl.
In English it is also possible to use other sentence structures to show the topic of the sentence, as in the following:
A distinction must be made between the clause-level topic and the discourse-level topic. Suppose we are talking about Mike's house:
In the example, the discourse-level topic is established in the first sentence: it is Mike's house. In the following sentence, a new "local" topic is established on the sentence level: he (Mike). But the discourse-level topic is still Mike's house, which is why the last comment does not seem out of place.
Languages often show different kinds of grammar for sentences that introduce new topics and those that continue discussing previously established topics. When a sentence introduces a new topic for discussion, it is most likely to use one of the strategies mentioned in (b), or (c) above.
When a sentence continues discussing a previously established topic, it is likely to use pronouns to refer to the topic. Topics of this sort show a tendency to be subjects, as mentioned in (a) above. In many languages, pronouns referring to previously established topics will show pro-drop.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the topic (or theme) is informally what is being talked about, and the comment (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic. Although this general nature of topic–comment dichotomy is generally accepted, anything beyond that is a matter of great controversy.
The distinction was probably first suggested by Henri Weil
Henri Weil
Henri Weil was a German-born French Jewish philologist.He was educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig. He went to France, and continued his studies at Paris, graduating as "docteur ès lettres" in 1845, and becoming "agrégé" in 1848...
in 1844.
Georg von der Gabelentz distinguished psychological subject (roughly topic) and
psychological object (roughly focus). In the Prague school, the
dichotomy, termed topic–focus articulation, has been studied mainly by Vilém Mathesius
Vilém Mathesius
Vilém Mathesius was a Czech linguist and literary historian, a scholar of English and Czech literature. His cousin was Bohumil Mathesius....
, Jan Firbas
Jan Firbas
Jan Firbas , was a Czech linguist and a prominent proponent of the Prague School of linguistics. Born in Brno, in the Czech Republic, he studied English and Linguistics at local Masaryk University. After obtaining his PhD, he would stay at Masaryk as a member of the Department of English and...
, František Daneš, Petr Sgall
Petr Sgall
Petr Sgall is a Czech linguist. He specializes in dependency grammar, topic–focus articulation and Common Czech.- Biography :...
and Eva Hajičová
Eva Hajicová
Eva Hajičová is a Czech linguist, specializing in topic–focus articulation and corpus linguistics. In 2006, she was awarded the ACL Lifetime Achievement Award.- External links :* *...
. They have been concerned
mainly by its relation to intonation and word-order. The work of
Michael Halliday
Michael Halliday
Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday is a British linguist who developed an internationally influential model of language, the systemic functional linguistic model. His grammatical descriptions go by the name of systemic functional grammar .-Biography:Halliday was born and raised in England...
in the 1960s is probably responsible for bringing the ideas to Functional Grammar
Functional grammar
Functional theories of grammar include a range of functionally based approaches to linguistics, the scientific study of language. The grammar model developed by Simon Dik bears this qualification in its name, functional grammar, as does Michael Halliday's systemic functional grammar.Role and...
.
Note that in some categorizations, topic refers only to the contrastive theme and comment to the noncontrastive theme + rheme.
Definitions
The term "topic" can be defined in a number of different ways. Among the most common are- a.) the phrase in a clause that the rest of the clause is understood to be about,
- b.) the phrase in a discourse that the rest of the discourse is understood to be about,
- c.) a special position in a clause (often at the right or left-edge of the clause) where topics typically appear.
In an ordinary English sentence, the subject is normally the same as the topic. For example, the topic is emphasized in italics in the following sentences:
- (1) The dog kicked the little girl.
- (2) The little girl was kicked by the dog.
Although these sentences mean the same thing, they have different topics. The first sentence is about the dog, while the second is about the little girl.
In English it is also possible to use other sentence structures to show the topic of the sentence, as in the following:
- (3) As for the little girl, the dog kicked her.
A distinction must be made between the clause-level topic and the discourse-level topic. Suppose we are talking about Mike's house:
- (4) Mike's house was so comfortable and warm! He really didn't want to leave, but he couldn't afford the rent, you know. And it had such a nice garden in the back!
In the example, the discourse-level topic is established in the first sentence: it is Mike's house. In the following sentence, a new "local" topic is established on the sentence level: he (Mike). But the discourse-level topic is still Mike's house, which is why the last comment does not seem out of place.
Realization of topic–comment
Different languages mark topics in different ways. Distinct intonation and word-order are the most common means. The tendency to place topicalized constituents sentence-initially (topic fronting) is widespread. Again, linguists disagree on many details.- English: intonation is the primary means, although word order (e.g., fronting of contrasted topics: Kim, I like.) and other syntactic (passivisation, cleftingCleftingA cleft sentence is a complex sentence that has a meaning that could be expressed by a simple sentence. Clefts typically put a particular constituent into focus...
) or lexical means ("As for ...", "Regarding ...") are also employed.
- JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: topic is often marked with a special cliticCliticIn morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically independent, but phonologically dependent on another word or phrase. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level...
postposition such as (は, -wa); see a presentation about this problem in Japanese http://celta.paris-sorbonne.fr/publications/indiv/wl/MICJHTML/MIC-J.html.
- So called free-word order languages (e.g. RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, CzechCzech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, to a certain extent ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
or GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
) use word-order as the primary means. Usually topic precedes focus. However, for example in Czech, both orders are possible. The order with comment sentence-initial is referred as subjective (Vilém MathesiusVilém MathesiusVilém Mathesius was a Czech linguist and literary historian, a scholar of English and Czech literature. His cousin was Bohumil Mathesius....
invented the term and opposed it to objective) and expresses certain emotional involvement. The two orders are distinguished by intonation.
Languages often show different kinds of grammar for sentences that introduce new topics and those that continue discussing previously established topics. When a sentence introduces a new topic for discussion, it is most likely to use one of the strategies mentioned in (b), or (c) above.
When a sentence continues discussing a previously established topic, it is likely to use pronouns to refer to the topic. Topics of this sort show a tendency to be subjects, as mentioned in (a) above. In many languages, pronouns referring to previously established topics will show pro-drop.
See also
- Focus (linguistics)
- Predicate (grammar)Predicate (grammar)There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
- Thematic equativeThematic equativeIn systemic functional grammar, a thematic equative is a thematic resource in which two or more separate elements in a clause are grouped together to form a single constituent of the theme-plus-rheme structure...
- Topic particle
- Topic-prominent languageTopic-prominent languageA topic-prominent language is a language that organizes its syntax to emphasize the topic–comment structure of the sentence. The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N...