Topicalization as a prominent device in Chinese:

TANG Zhengda

Associate Professor of Institute of Linguistics,

Chinese Academy of

Social SciencesBeijing, China

10 Dec 2013, Research Institute of Linguistics, HAS, Budapest, Hungary

With reference to relativization and complementation

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Outlines

• Iconicity

• Topicalization & Complimentation as Subject

• Topicality & Relativization Accessibility

in Chinese

• Topic within Nominal Phrases

• Conclusion

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Iconicity ：differing from similarity

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Iconicity: Model & Icon

Amilyen az anya, olyan a lánya有其父，必有其子

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Iconicity: Imitation

Model Icon The world Language Conceptual Constr. Linguistic form(Haiman 1985)

Lang-external Lang.-internal

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Iconicity in simplest ways • Onomatopoeia, Interjections, etc. Cat meowing

– In Arabic, miao – In Chinese, Mandarin, miāo miāo– In Hungarian miaú, nyau – In English, meow [miˈaʊ], miaow (UK), or mew [mjuː] – In Estonian, mjäu , njäu – In Filipino, ngyaw – In Greek, niau , (νιάου)

• Source of Noun: ya (duck), e (google), wuya (crow) • Source of Verbs: flap, flip, chirp, cuckoo, roar, zip, zig-zag• Implosives for collecting flocks, Qu (go) for shouting away• Negation （ nasal/labial ）—— close to deny• Demonstratives and person prons (Sonority, length, height, backness)

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Iconicity and order (narrative sequence)

• Veni, vidi, vici (Julius Caesar) Jakobson1965

• Subj – Obj. ： SVO, SOV, VSO ： Majority• Obj – Subj ： OVS, OSV, VOS ： Minority• Conditionals ： Protasis-apodosis ： Majority• Info. Str. ： Given – New• Temporal Sequential Principle (Tai 1985) ：

• 在马背 - 上 跳 - 跳 在 马背 - 上• Prep. horse.back-up jump Jump prep. Horse.back-up Keep Jumping on the horse back Jump onto the horse back

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Language Internal Iconicity (LII)

• LII: Automorphism

Model Icon

Lang. form A Lang. form B

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• Chinese ：

Examples for LII ： Numerals

一 1 十一 10-1二 2 十二 10-2三 3 十三 10-3四 4 十四 10-4五 5 十五 10-5六 6 十六 10-6七 7 十七 10-7八 8 十八 10-8九 9 十九 10-9十 10 二十 2-10

二十一21:2-10-1

…… 一百二十一121: 1-hdr.-2-10-1

Model Icon/Model Icon

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• Simplest Numeral sys.: Haruai

1 paŋ 2 mos

3 mos paŋ 2 + 1 4 mos mos 2 + 2

Model

Icon

Examples for LII ： Numerals

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• Most complicated ： Hindi

Models

Icons

Examples for LII ： Numerals

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Universality of Topic-Comment

• Hockett (1963): bipartite structure: T-C

• Gundel (1988): Left Topic & Sent. predicate

• Sohmiya (2005): T-C = Reference –Description =

universal mode of thinking

Every human language has a common clause type with bipartite structure in which the constituents can reasonably be termed ‘topic’ and ‘comment’

Every language has syntactic topic constructions in which an expression which refers to the topic of the sentence is adjoined to the left of a full sentence comment.

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Typological ‘Exceptionals’ in Chinese

• Topic-prominent(L&T1981): Topic markers, but SVO• Prenominal Relative Clauses• Do not (strictly) follow Accessibility Hierarchy (K.C

1977)• Pre-verbal Prep. phrase• Topic-Comment WITHIN NPs• Defected subject complementation

Interacted? Correlated?

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Topic-Prominent but SVO

• Topic prominent ： Chao(1968), Tai(1973), Huang(1973), Li & Thompson (1976), Xu & Liu (1998), etc.

• Other T-Prom. Languages ：Korean, Japanese

Lisu Chinese, Lahu

Philippine Malagasy

English,French,Twi,Indonesian

QiangSangkong

Yi(Lolo)Zaiwa….

SVO

Li & Thompson (1976)

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Topicalization & Complementation as Subject

Another case for

Language Internal Iconicity

Two strategies in world langugages

• clausal subject– That he did it shocked him.

• clausal complement– shocked him that he did it.

Rare

Common

Hungarian ， Szabolcsi 200916

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Rare Common Clausal subject Clausal complement

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Chinese: Clausal Subject only

• Clausal Subject

他 打 小孩 激怒 - 了 围观者。 he beat kid infuriate-PST onlooker‘That he beat the kid make the onlookers angry.’

• Clausal-Complement

* 这 / 它 激怒 - 了 围观者 他打小孩。 this/it infuriate-PST onlooker he beat kid

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Chinese clausal Subject: Clause reductionNon-finite, infinitival, nominalized

他 踢 小孩 不 - 可信。he kick kid not-reliable/true‘His kicking kids/the kid is not true.’

* 他 踢 - 了 小孩 不 - 可信。 he kick-PAST kid not-reliable/true‘That he kicked the kid is not true.’

Semantically self-contradicte: 了 is a trigger of existence presp.

Inequality in complementation between

Clausal Subject and clausal Object

*/# 我 不 信 他 踢 小孩。 I not believe he kick kid ‘I don’t believe in his kicking the kid. ’

我 不 信 他 踢 –了 小孩。 I not believe he kick-PAST kid ‘I don’t believe that he kicked the kid. ’

Semantically self-contradicte: 了 is a trigger of existence presp.20

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他 踢 小孩 不 - 可信。he kick kid not-reliable/true

* 他 踢 - 了 小孩 不 - 可信。 he kick-PAST kid not-reliable/true

Iconicity in Subject position:‘bare’ clause and bare-NP

独角兽 不存在。unicorn not-exist* 那只独角兽 不存在。That-Cl. unicorn non-exist

PAST, Dem-CL triggers existence presupposition

‘bare’ clause

bare-NP

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Topicalization: the hidden power

Bare NP Subject Clausal subject Generic topic generic sentence

Model Icon

他 踢 小孩 –呢 不 - 可信。he kick kid -TOP not-reliable/true

独角兽 - 呢 不存在。unicorn -TOP not-exist

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Case of Ancient Chinese

杀人者 死， 伤人 及 盗 抵罪。Kill-man-NOM/TOP die injure-man and steal be-held-guilty‘One who murders be put to death, and who injures and steals be held guilty’

Three for one: Nominalization, Complementation = topicalization

Two strategies for complemantation, as one: Nominalizer( 者 ), Clausal reduction = topicalization

Topic-Comment as the Model

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Differing and Similar

S-complementation strategies in

Tibeto-Burman Languages

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Nominalization: Thangmi

gă-ye ah-u-n -du- be ma-lo. I-erg say-3p-1s→3-npt-top neg-doLit. what I say, he dosen’t follow.‘He doesn’t follow whatever I say.’ (universal quantification)

(Turin1973:265)Nominalization

Topicalization

complementation

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Sangkong: 2 strategies （ Li 2002 ）

• a33 tɕa55 qha55 mb31 ʑe33. here stay most good MOOD ‘Staying here is best (for me)’

• mbja31a55mba33 ta33 e55 a31 mb31 nge55. much drink- NOM NOT good MOOD ‘Drinking too much is not good.’

Clause reduction Nominalization

Both Topicalization

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Eastern Kayan (SVO, Tibeto-B? Mon-Khmer?)

Solnit 1986• [a sí trē] se o k ū tcɤ to 3 ashamed useful COM 3 one-CLF NEG Being ashamed isn’t any use to him!

Clause reduction

全量性、类指性话题

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Lahu in Bangdo ： T-B

• Li （ 2012 ）

Nominalization Shared Topic marking

Exercise NOM/TOP goodpoint have

Tracter one-CL buy NOM/TOP 2000 yuan need MOOD

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Yi (Lolo): T-BHu 2001 、 2004

Topicalization for complementation and Subjunctive clause

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Zaiwa ： T-BZhu 2012

Complentatation

Topicalization

SubjuctiveTopicalizato

n

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Common absence of Complementizer

a. That he came is true.

b. It is true that he came.

Topic promimece: Only in SOV languages

Topicalization: de-clausalization

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Common tendency: Pre- vs. Post-

a. His having come is true. (Reduced, compact)

b. It is true that he came. (full-fledged, finite)

a'. The boy who is running is my son.

b‘. The running boy who came is my son.

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Relative clause: pre- and post-Reduced and full-fledged

Hungarian (Hidasi 1988)

az angol nyelvtanár húgomART English language-teacher sister-mine‘my sister who (is) an English teacher’

az ember aki beszél / beszél-t-em / beszél-getART man REL say-PRE /say-PAST-1sg /say-ITER

‘the man who is speaking/I used to mention/keep talking’

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Topicalityand

Relativization Accessibility in Chinese

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Accessibility Hierarchy of NP Positions (Keenan & Comrie 1977)

• The higher, • the more likely to be relativized

• the more typologically attested• the more frequently occurred• the earlier to be acquired

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English: accessible to all

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Another extreme ： certain AustranesiansOnly subject / focus / pivot accessible

• Robust voice and/or focus system, so to ‘subjectivize’

• What about Chinese?

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Malagasy: Subj. by passivization

• ny vehivavy [izay nividy ny vary] the woman REL buy.ACT the rice ‘the woman who bought the rice’

• ny vary [izay novidin’ ny vehivavy]

the rice REL buy.PASS the woman‘the rice that was bought by the woman’

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Tagalog (Western Malayo-Polynesian; Schachter 1977):Focalization & passivization

• a) b<um>ili ang babae ng baro.• <AF>bought FOC woman PAT dress• ‘The woman bought a dress.’

• b) b<in>ili ng babae ang baro.• <PF>bought a woman FOC dress• ‘The dress was bought by a / the woman.’

• c) babae-[ng b<um>ili ng baro]• woman-LKR <AF>bought PAT dress• ‘the woman who bought a dress’

• d) baro-[ng b<in>ili ng babae]• dress-LKR <PF>bought a woman• ‘the dress that was bought by a / the woman’

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Puzzles in Chinese: Instrument Oblique high in AH

* 郑屠用 ( 它 ) 切肉的刀 郑屠切肉的刀

( 这 ) 刀，郑屠切肉。郑屠用刀切肉。刀 刀

Extraction of

Instrument

Extraction of Topic

Butcher use (it) cut meat REL knife Butcher cut meat REL knife

Butcher use knife cut meat This knife, butcher cut meat

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奶粉丢了的孩子milk lose-PST Rel kid

* 奶粉有毒的孩子

milk has poison Rel kid

孩子 , 奶粉丢了kid-TOP milk lose-PST

* 孩子 , 奶粉有毒Kid-TOP milk has poison

Relativization Topicalization

Puzzles in Chinese: Genetive high in AH

‘Gen’ in Chinese is de facto TOPIC

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Chinese AH more like this

SUBJDO

GENInstr

IOObl.OComp

Driven by TOPICALIZATION

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TopicsWITHIN

Nominal Phrases?

Crazy?

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Common Rule in Chinese NP with 的 de

• The Lefter, the more likely with 的 de

• 漂亮 *( 的 ) 大 ( 的 ) 房间 beautiful de big (de) house A/the beautiful big house

• 聪明 *( 的 ) 匈牙利 ( 的 ) 人民 Intelligent de Hungarian (de) people Intelligent Hungarian people

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Let’s see how powerful is the assimilation effect of TOP-COM icon

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Very peculiar type of NP hitherto less discussed

大象 粗长 的 鼻子Elep. thick-long de noseMod. Adj. Rel Head-Noun

粗长的鼻子 ＝ 鼻子thick-long de nose ＝ nose

But: * 大象 鼻子 * Elep. nose

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The Leftmost N-modifier ：Against the common rule

a ． * 那 根 i 大象 粗长 的 鼻子 i That Cl. Elep. thick-long de nose

b ．那 只 j 大象 j 粗长 的鼻子 That Cl. Elep. thick-long de nose

The leftmost constraint satisfied.

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The Leftmost N-modifier ：other peculiarities

• Left-M can do without 的 de ！• Left-M cannot do without additional modifier and

then 的 de

1 、 * 他 品质 he(his) personality 2 、 * 他 优秀 品质 he(his) top-ranked personality 3 、他 优秀 的 品质 he(his) top-ranked de personality

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Leftmost-M is Costly!Garden Path resulted

• Prosodic mis-match 我尊敬 - 他 ---------- 年迈的 -- 父亲 I respect[shortest pause]he[longest pause] old father

The 2nd parsing: WRONG ？

The 1st parsing: WRONG

The 3rd parsing: Right at last!

Whom

to respect?

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CAUSE of Leftmost-M: TOPIC-COMMENT as an ICON

• Leftmost-M and Topic-Comment: PARALLEL

a ． L-M NP: 狗 灵敏 的 嗅觉 dog sharp de sense-of-smellb ． Topic-Comt: 狗，嗅觉 灵敏。 dog sense-of-smell sharp TOP Sub-TOP Comt

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Semantic constraint for possessee: Shockingly similar with Sub-TOPIC

• Left-M NP: (inalienable possession ONLY)

a. 他沉重 的 呼吸 he heavy de breath

b. * 他沉重的 桌子 he heavy de table

• So is Topic-Comment ： a. 他， 呼吸 沉重。 he-TOP breath-SubT heavy

b. * 他，桌子 沉重。 he-TOP table-SubT heavy

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科学院 很有名 的 语言所 Academy(HAS) famous de RIL* 匈牙利 在 6 楼 的 语言所Academy(HAS) at-6th-floor de RIL

L-MNP

T-PCONS

Semantic constraint for relevancyShockingly similar with COMMENT

科学院 ， 语言所 很有名 Academy(HAS)-TOP RIL-SubT famous * 科学院， 语言所 在 6 楼Academy(HAS) RIL-SubT at-6th-floor

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Syntax overriden by prosody:Shocking parallelism between Left-M and Top-Com

• Syntax-Prosody Mismatch ： drug-invst. requires dog-TOP, sharp de sense of smell

缉毒 需要 [ 狗 ( 呢 ) 灵敏的嗅觉 ] 。SyntaxProsody

• Compare ：缉毒 需要 狗 ( 呢 ) ，嗅觉 灵敏。 drug-invst. requires dog-TOP smell sharp

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Leftmost-Mod is a Topic within NP

dog, sharp de sense of smellLeft-Mod Adj-Mod Rel Head-N

狗 灵敏 的 嗅觉

狗 嗅觉 灵敏。dog sense of smell sharp TOPIC Sub-TOP Adj-Pred.

NPIcon

T-P Model

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A case for Language Internal Iconicity

Topic within NP

Topic- Comment

Icon

Model

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话题 结构

范畴 扩张

形式 扩张

受事、工具、旁格等提取

主语补足

语从句

其他状语从

句、介词短语

等

NP内部类话

题结构

条件句

关系化 提取

跨层次、韵律

错配：我认为

……呢

TOPIC-COMMENT as the MODEL for

ICONS

T-PT-C

Categorical assimilationCategorical assimilation

OBL Subju-ctive

Subj-Comp.

Adverbials,Comparative

TOPWithinNPs

Relativization

FormalAssimilation

Prosodicmismatch

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Proverbs

A nagy hal megeszi a kis halat

大鱼吃小鱼，小鱼吃虾米Big fish eats small fish, small fish eats prawns

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Chao, Y.R. 1968. A Grammar of Modern Spoken Chinese. Berkeley and L.A: UCP.

Chappell, Hilary. 2008. Variation in the grammaticalization of complementizers from verba dicendi in Sinitic languages. Linguistic Typology. No.1:

45-98.

Givón, T. 2001. Syntax: An Introduction, Vol. II. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Gonzalez, A. Á. Relative clauses and nominalizations in Yaqui. In B. Comrie and Z. E-Fernandez (eds.), Relative Clauses in Languages of the

Americas: A Typological Overview. John Benjamins B.V.

Greenberg, J.H. 1995. On language internal iconicity, in M.E. Landsberg (ed.) Syntactic Iconicity and Linguistic Freezes: The Human Dimension,

Walter de Grutyer: 57-63.

Gundel, J.K. 1988. Universals of topic-comment structure. In Hammond, M., E.A Moravcsik, and J.R. Wirth (eds.), Studies in Syntactic Typology.

John Benjamins: Amsterdam/Philadelphia. Pp209-239.

Harbsmeier, Christoph. 1983-85. Where do Classical Chinese nouns come from? Early China, 9-10: 77-163.

Horie, Kaoru. 2000. “Complementation in Japanese and Korean: A contrastive and cognitive linguistic approach.” In Kaoru Horie (ed.),

Complementation: Cognitive and functional perspectives. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins: 11-31.

Huang, S. F. 1973. Movement in Mandarin Syntax. Bulletin of the College of Liberal Arts. National Taiwan Universi ty, No.22.

Karttunen, Lauri 1974. Presupposition and Linguistic Context. Theoretical Linguistics 1 181-94. Also in Pragmatics: A Reader, Steven Davis (ed.),

pages 406-415, Oxford University Press, 1991. constructions. Indiana University Linguistics Club.

Kockett, C.F. 1963. The problem of universals in language. In J.H. Greenberg (ed.), Universals of Language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Lehmann, Christian. 1986. On the typology of relative clauses. Linguistics. 24: 663-680. Shigehiro Kato. 2011. Clause reduction and pragmatic preference in Japanese, International Workshop on Cross-Linguistic Studies on Clause

Combining, 6th Meeting, 2011/11/11-13

Sohmiya, Kiyoko. 2005. Verb constructions in English and Japanese: A constrastive study on semantic principles. In Takagaki, S.Z., Y. Tsuruga, F.M.

Fernández, and Y. Kawaguchi (eds.), Corpus-based Approaches to Sentence Structures. John Benjamins: Amsterdam/Philadelphia. Pp.233-252.

Solnit, David B. 1986. A Grammatical Sketch of Eastern Kayah (Red Karen), U.C. Berkeley, Final draft of dissertation.

Turin, M. 1975. A Grammar of Thangmi Language: With an ethnolinguistic introduction to the speakers and their culture: Geboren te Londeon.

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Thank you!