NON-REFERENTIAL TOPICAL PHRASES IN ROMANIAN AND THE THEORY OF TOPICALITY
NON-REFERENTIAL TOPICAL PHRASES IN ROMANIAN AND THE THEORY OF TOPICALITY
Author(s): Ion GiurgeaSubject(s): Language studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Syntax
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: discourse and sentence topics; topicalization; aboutness; Romanian;
Summary/Abstract: I discuss various theories of sentence topics against the background of attested examples of topicalization in Romanian. I argue that non-referential topical phrases constitute a problem for the concept of aboutness topic proposed by Reinhart (1981) and can better be accounted for in a theory where topicalized constituents are indicators of the discourse topic (cf. von Fintel 1994). I examine various types of topicalized constituents, classified according to the relation they entertain with the previous sentences and the discourse topic. Furthermore, I discuss another function of sentence topics, which can be characterized independently of discourse relations: that of anchoring the new information in the common ground. I suggest a way in which this function can be subsumed under the general function of indicating discourse-topic dynamics.
Journal: Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics
- Issue Year: 19/2017
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 35-67
- Page Count: 32
- Language: English, Romanian