臺灣華語教學研究 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language 總第四期 Vol. 4（2012.06）：69-93
Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications1 Chao Li City University of New York This paper shows that although some Chinese constructions may look disparate from each other at first glance, they are actually united by the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language. It argues that the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English is not is an important factor that contributes to the contrast in grammaticality between the Chinese constructions and their English counterparts. The importance of topic prominence in Chinese has at least three pedagogical implications. That is, in the teaching and learning of Chinese, it is important (i) to explain to students the topic-comment structure at the earliest appropriate point, (ii) to mention and systematically discuss the notions of “topic,” “topic-comment,” and “topic prominence” in the textbook, and (iii) to take into consideration the topic-prominent features when assessing students’ proficiency in Chinese. Keywords: topic prominence, topic-comment structure, Chinese, textbook compilation
1. Introduction Li & Thompson (1976) claim that languages can be typologized according to whether they are subject-prominent, topic-prominent, both, or neither. According to them, a language is topic-prominent if its basic structure of sentences “favors a description in which the grammatical relation topic-comment plays a major role; a language is subject-prominent if its basic structure of sentences “favors a description in which the grammatical relation subject-predicate plays a major role” (p. 459, 1
I am very grateful to two anonymous TJCSL reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions. Abbreviations: CL=classifier; EXP=experiential; MM=modifier marker; PERF=perfective; PROG=progressive; QUES=question marker; SFP=sentence-final particle.
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臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 emphasis original). Since Li & Thompson’s (1976) seminal work on the typology of languages along the line of topic prominence and subject prominence, it has become well-known that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English a subjectprominent language. To make the notion of topic prominence more workable, C. Li (2004) proposes two conditions for a language to be considered topic-prominent, as stated in (1). (1) Necessary and sufficient conditions for a language to be topic-prominent a. The “double nominative” construction is natural and grammatical in both planned and unplanned discourses of the language. b. The topic-chain construction is a basic discourse unit of the language.
Sentence (2) is an example of the double nominative construction or double subject construction (cf. Li & Thompson1976, 1981，Teng 1974), in which the topic and the subject of the sentence are two NPs used consecutively and are not coreferential with each other. (2) 這件事情，你不能光麻煩一個人。 Zhe-jian
shiqing, ni
this-CL
matter
bu
neng
you not can
guang
mafan
yi-ge
ren.
only
bother
one-CL person
Literally: ‘This matter, you can’t just bother one person.’ ‘Concerning (or As for) this matter, you can’t just bother one person.’ (Li & Thompson 1976: 479)
Sentence (3) is an example of the topic-chain construction, which Tsao (1990: xi) defines as follows: “topic chain, a stretch of discourse headed by one or more topics, which are followed by one or more comment clauses, is a discourse unit equivalent to the English surface sentence” (cf. W. Li’s (2004: 41) definition). (3) is drawn from a newspaper Zhonghua Dushubao. It is one sentence or a topic chain in Chinese, but its English translation needs at least two sentences to avoid any awkwardness.2
2
One may argue that (3) involves two topic chains, one headed by Aiyinsitan and the other by ta. However, a topic refers to the referent of an expression, not the expression itself, unless a metalinguistic reference is involved (cf. Lambrecht 1994: 131). As Aiyinsitan and ta have the same referent and as (3) is about this very referent, sentence (3) involves one topic chain, not two.
70
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications (3) 愛因斯坦是一個比較任性的人，不像他的好朋友格羅斯曼那樣四平八穩，門 門功課都好，他對喜歡的課程可以自己鑽研到讓大人吃驚的深度，但對於不 喜歡的課程就根本不理睬，成績不好也不很在意。 Aiyinsitani shi
yi-ge
Einstein
one-CL comparatively
be
ta de
hao
he
good friend
MM
pengyou Geluosiman
gongke dou hao, course
all
bijiao
tai
good he
Grossman
person
not-as
MM
nayang sipingbawen,
men-men
like.that well-organized
CL-CL
keyi
ziji
to
MM
course
may
self
shendu,
dan
depth
but
to
not like
willful
kecheng
study.intensively
as.to
bu-xiang
de
dao rang
xihuan
ren,
dui xihuan
zuanyan
i duiyu bu
renxing de
like
daren chijing de
make adult
surprise
MM
de
kecheng
jiu
genben bu
MM
course
then
at.all
licai,
chengji bu
pay.attention.to
grade
hao
i ye
not good
bu
not hen
zaiyi.
also not much care
‘Einstein was a willful person. Unlike his good friend Grossman, who was wellorganized and did well with every subject, he could study intensively the courses he liked to such a depth that adults would get surprised. However, as for the courses (he) did not like, (he) paid no attention to them at all and did not care much about the bad grades.’ [From Zhonghua Dushubao ‘China Newspaper on Books,’ 07/30/03—Cong Aiyinsitan shi-bu-shi ben shuoqi ‘Begin the talk with whether Einstein was retarded or not.’] The two conditions in (1) recognize the importance of the double dominative construction and the topic-chain construction with respect to topic prominence, both of which actually figure prominently in some works after the publication of Li & Thompson’s (1976) paper, e.g. Cao et al. 2006，Fuller & Gundel 1987， C. Li 2004，W. Li 2004, 2006，Tsao 1979, 1990， Xiao 2004，Xie 1992. One purpose of 71
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 this paper is to argue that in addition to the above two constructions, there are a number of other constructions or phenomena that might look disparate from each other on the surface but are in fact united under topic prominence. Another purpose of this paper is to discuss the pedagogical implications of the topic-prominent nature of the Chinese language. In what follows, I will address the apparently disparate constructions and the pedagogical implications of Chinese topic prominence in turn.
2. Apparently disparate constructions In this section, I will discuss six constructions, which are apparently not related to each other, but are actually united under the topic-prominent nature of Chinese.3 The first construction to be considered is topicalization, in which the topic is coreferential with an empty category that is an internal argument of the main verb involved. Example (4a) is an instance of this construction. Importantly, while sentences like (4a) are natural and often heard in spoken Chinese, their English counterparts like (4b) are not acceptable to most native speakers of English I consulted.4, 5
3
As will be seen below, all the constructions to be discussed involve a “topic-comment” structure. Moreover, all these constructions have been discussed in the literature on Chinese. However, when they are discussed in the literature, most of these constructions are typically not considered with respect to the “topic-comment” structure involved or to the topic-prominent nature of the Chinese language and nor are all the constructions considered together. For example, only the first and the fifth constructions are discussed by Xu & Liu (1998) in their monograph on topic, and the discussion is made not directly related to the topic prominence of Chinese. Given this, I believe that one of the main contributions of this paper lies exactly in the fact that it threads together apparently disparate constructions with the topic-comment structure displayed and the topic-prominent nature of Chinese and gives them a holistic treatment. 4 “Counterpart” is intended to mean a direct translation with the same voice (i.e. active or passive) and with the word order of the target language. English counterparts are given to clearly present the contrast between Chinese and English with respect to the constructions discussed in this paper. As conscious contrastive analyses of the differences between Chinese and Chinese language learners’ first or native language help them learn the Chinese language, I hope that instructors whose students speak English as their first or native language will find the discussion of the English counterparts useful and that they will call students’ attention to the difference in grammaticality between Chinese and English with respect to the constructions in question. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that one of the five Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century established as a result of the National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project is comparisons, one of which involves comparing the language studied and the student’s own language so that students can “demonstrate understanding of the nature of language” (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project 2006: 9, 58, 181). 5 While it is true that topic is essentially a discourse notion (see Chu 1998, Li & Thompson 1976, Tsao 1979), I use single sentences to illustrate the constructions in question for the sake of simplicity.
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LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications (4) a. 那本書，我看過。 [Na-ben
shu]i, wo
kan-guo
that-CL
book I
read-EXP
i .
‘Speaking of that book, I read it before.’ b. ?That book, I read before.
The second construction to be examined is the Patient/Theme/Causee-alone construction, in which the Patient, Theme, or Causee is the only overt argument of a transitive (compound) verb. This construction is illustrated with (5a), in which the only overt argument is the Patient. Again, it is worth noting that while sentences like (5a) are grammatical in Chinese, their counterparts in English like (5b) are ungrammatical. Likewise, while resultatives like (6a) and (7a), which are also Patient/Theme/Causee-alone constructions, are well-formed in Chinese, their English counterparts like (6b) and (7b) are ungrammatical. (5) a. 地掃了。 Di
sao-le.
floor
sweep-PERF
Literally: ‘The floor swept.’ ‘The floor was swept.’ b. *The floor swept. (6) a. 桌子擦乾淨了。 Zhuozi ca-ganjing-le. table
wipe-clean-PERF
Literally: ‘The table wiped clean.’ ‘The table was wiped clean.’ b. *The table wiped clean. (7) a. 我的腰都洗疼了。 Wo-de
yao
dou
xi-teng-le.
I-MM
waist
EMPHASIS
wash-painful-PERF
‘My waist became painful as the result of my washing (something definite).’ OR ‘My waist became painful as the result of being washed.’ b. *My waist washed painful. 73
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 Third, de-extent sentences like (8) and (9), which are counterparts of the resultative examples in (6a) and (7a) respectively, are also grammatical in Chinese. In addition, de-extent sentences like (10) are well-formed in the language, too.6 (8) 桌子擦得很乾淨。 Zhuozi ca-de table
hen
ganjing.
wipe- EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER very
clean
‘The table was wiped very clean.’ (9) 我的腰洗得都疼了。 Wo-de
yao
xi-de
I-MM
waist wash- EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER
dou
teng-le.
EMPHASIS
painful-PERF
‘My waist became painful as the result of my washing (something definite).’ OR ‘My waist became painful as the result of being washed.’ (10) 那些衣服洗得我腰都疼了。 Naxie yifu
xi-de
wo yao dou
those clothes wash-EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER I
teng-le.
waist EMPHASIS painful-PERF
‘I washed those clothes and they even got my waist painful.’
Fourth, unaccusative external possession constructions like (11a) and (12a) are grammatical in Chinese, but their English counterparts like (11b) and (12b) are bad. In such constructions, a monadic unaccusative verb apparently takes two “arguments,” one in the canonical subject position and the other in the canonical object position, and the two “arguments” form a possessive relationship, with the entity denoted by the “argument” in the canonical subject position being interpreted as the possessor of the entity denoted by the “argument” in the canonical object position.
6
The entity that becomes painful refers to the single argument of the main clause in (9), but refers to yao ‘waist’ of the de-clause in (10). In addition, both (9) and (10) involve a main clause that has a single overt argument. This argument is the Causee argument of the whole sentence in (9), but is the Patient argument of xi ‘wash’ in (10).
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LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications (11) a. 張三七歲死了父親。 Zhangsan
qi
sui
Zhangsan
seven year
si-le
fuqin.
die-PERF
father
‘When Zhangsan was seven years old, his father died. b. *Zhangsan died father at the age of seven. (12) a. 張三爛了一筐梨。 Zhangsan
lan-le
yi-kuang li.
Zhangsan
rot-PERF
one-CL
pear
‘One basket of Zhangsan’s pears rotted.’ b. *Zhangsan rotted one basket of pears. (Intended: ‘One basket of Zhangsan’s pears rotted.’)
Fifth, while sentences like (13a) and (14a), which involve an “object” subtopic (cf. Xu 2002, Xu & Liu 1998) in the middle, are well-formed in Chinese, their English counterparts in (13b) and (14b) are again ungrammatical. (13) a. 我那本書看過。 Wo na-ben I
shu
kan-guo.
that-CL book read-EXP
‘I read that book before.’ b. *I that book read before. (14) a. 他烈性酒不喝。 Ta liexingjiu
bu
he.
he strong.liquor not drink ‘He does not drink strong liquors.’ b. *He strong liquors does not drink.’
Finally, the bei-construction and the ba-construction in Chinese are noted for allowing a post-verbal constituent, as shown in (15a) and (16). As far as the passive construction marked by bei is concerned, the English counterpart of (15a) is ungrammatical, as shown in (15b). 75
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 (15) a. 他被張三撕毀了日記。 Ta bei
Zhangsan sihui-le
he
Zhangsan tear.up-PERF diary
BEI
riji.
‘His diary was torn up by Zhangsan.’ b. *He was torn up his diary by Zhangsan. (16) 張三把門踢出了一個洞。 Zhangsan
ba
men
ti-chu-le
yi-ge
dong.
Zhangsan
BA
door
kick-out-PERF one-CL hole
‘Zhangsan kicked out a hole in the door.’
Although the above Chinese constructions might look disparate from each other at first glance, they are united by the fact that the sentence-initial NPs of these constructions are all topics and the rest of each sentence serves as a comment. Furthermore, the grammaticality of the above constructions in Chinese and the contrast between Chinese and English in their behaviors related to these constructions cannot be accounted for if we do not take into consideration the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English a subject-prominent language. In other words, all the constructions considered above are united by the fact that Chinese is a topicprominent language. Specifically, due to the topic-prominent nature of the language, Chinese has more freedom in allowing different kinds of constituents to be put in the topic and subtopic positions and in permitting apparently loose structures. Meanwhile, the above constructions are arguably all motivated by the speaker’s need to first put forward what is to be talked about and then to say something about it. For example, sentence (6a), which is repeated as (17a) below, is about the referent of the sentence-initial NP zhuozi ‘table.’ To view it from a different perspective, all the single NPs that occur in this Patient/Theme/Causee-alone construction have to be a topic expression, as evidenced by the fact that an indefinite NP cannot be used in this frame when no contrastive context is available (see (18)).7
7
In other cases, the subject of a Chinese sentence can be an indefinite NP even when no contrastive context is involved, as shown in (i) below. (i) Shu-shang-de yi-pian yezi luo-le. tree-on-MM one-CL leaf fall-PERF ‘One of the leaves on the tree fell.’
76
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications
(17) a. 桌子擦乾淨了。 Zhuozi ca-ganjing-le. table
wipe-clean-PERF
Literally: ‘The table wiped clean.’ ‘The table was wiped clean.’ c. *The table wiped clean.
(18) *一張桌子擦乾淨了。 *Yi-zhang
zhuozi
ca-ganjing-le.
one-CL
table
wipe-clean-PERF
Intended: ‘One table was wiped clean.’
As for the contrast between (17a) and (17b), it can be largely attributed to the fact that the two components of a resultative form a compound in Chinese, but not in English (cf. C. Li, 2008). However, when the contrast between (19a) and (19b) and the topic nature of the single overt argument are also taken into consideration, it is reasonable to conclude that the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English is a subject-prominent languages is at least partly responsible for the contrasts as seen in (17) and (19). (19) a. 地掃了。 Di
sao-le.
floor
sweep-PERF
Literally: ‘The floor swept.’ ‘The floor was swept.’ b. *The floor swept.
For another example, in (11a), repeated as (20a) below, what is being talked about is not Zhangsan’s father, but Zhangsan. The fact that the referent of the possessor NP, not that of the possessum NP, is the topic of the unaccusative external possession construction can be seen more clearly in (21).
77
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 (20) a. 張三七歲死了父親。 Zhangsan
qi
sui
Zhangsan
seven year.old
si-le
fuqin.
die-PERF
father
‘When Zhangsan was seven years old, his father died. b. *Zhangsan died father at the age of seven. (21) 華佗從小就很機敏。傳說他七歲死了父親，家中貧困，母親讓他去求父親 生前好友蔡醫生學醫。
Hua Tuo cong-xiao
jiu
hen jimin.
Chuanshuo
Hua Tuo from-childhood
INDICATING.EARLINESS
very astute
it.is.said
ta qi
sui
he seven year
qiu
si-le
fuqin,
die-PERF father
fuqin shengqian
request father before.death
jiazhong
pinkun, muqin
family
poor
rang ta qu
mother ask he go
haoyou
Cai yisheng
xue
yi.
good.friend
Cai doctor
study medicine
‘Hua Tuo was already very astute from childhood. It is said that when he was seven years old, his father died. His family was poor, and his mother asked him to go request Doctor Cai, one good friend of his father’s before his death, to accept him as his pupil and let him study medicine with him.’ (www.epochtimes.com/b5/2/6/1/n193801.htm)
In (21), ta ‘he’ in the boldfaced unaccusative external possession construction is coreferential with Hua Tuo. The fact that the part in boldface and the clause following it are about Hua Tuo rather than about his father clearly shows that the referent of the possessor NP is the topic of the unaccusative external possession construction. Just as with the Patient/Theme/Causee-alone construction, the same point can be made with respect to the unaccusative external possession construction. That is, while there are constraints (e.g. verb type) on the use of this construction, the fact that (20a) is grammatical in Chinese and that its English counterpart in (20b) is ungrammatical
78
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications is also at least partly due to the fact that compared with English, Chinese has more freedom in allowing different kinds of constituent to function as a topic. Finally, consider the passive construction in (15a), which also forms a contrast with its English counterpart in (15b). What is special about (15a) is the fact that it involves a retained object, which is not normally found in passive constructions of other languages. Crucially, what (15a) is mainly about is not riji ‘diary,’ but ta ‘he.’ While to talk about riji rather than ta is the motivation that underlies this objectretaining passive construction, it is the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language that makes this motivated structure a reality.
3. The teaching of Chinese topic prominence The above discussion shows the permeating topic-prominent nature of the Chinese language, which distinguishes Chinese from subject-prominent languages like English. Because of the importance of topic prominence in Chinese and because of the lack of this feature in English and other Indo-European languages, to learners of Chinese whose native language is subject-prominent, topic prominence, like tones and characters, is one important aspect that needs to be systematically addressed. In this section, I would like to discuss some implications of this permeating topic-prominent feature for the teaching of Chinese. With respect to topic prominence and the teaching of Chinese, Xie (1992) is one of the first to systematically examine the topic prominence of the interlanguage of English learners of Chinese and to advocate for early introduction of the notions of “topic” and “topic prominence” and for early cultivation of students’ awareness of the topic-prominent nature of Chinese. Twenty years later after Xie’s study, there is still some work that needs to be done with respect to the teaching of Chinese topic prominence. On the one hand, there is no escape from topic prominence when teaching Chinese, given that topic prominence is a permeating feature of the Chinese language. On the other hand, the notions of “topic” and “topic prominence” still have not received due attention in the design of textbooks for learners of Chinese as a second or foreign language or have not been given an analysis at the right level, i.e. at the level of information structure. To flesh out my point with respect to the lack of due attention to or analysis of topic prominence, I will discuss three representative series of textbooks used in the United States. The first two series are representative in 79
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 the sense that they are well-established and widely used in colleges (and high schools). The third series is representative in the sense that it is one of the newest and most promising series of textbooks for the teaching and learning of the Chinese language. First, although the texts in the first volume of the New Practical Chinese Reader by Xun Liu et al. clearly show the importance of the notions of “topic” and “topic prominence,” they are not mentioned in the grammar section at all. 8 To illustrate the importance of the notions of “topic” and “topic prominence,” consider the fact that the first instance of topicalization (see (22)) is attested in Lesson 4, in one of the first few short conversations of the Textbook. Moreover, the first double nominative constructions are attested in Lesson 12 (see (23-24)), if we do not analyze sentenceinitial time expressions like jintian ‘today’ as topics.
(22) Liu et al. 2002a: 37 老師：
你好，陸先生，認識你很高興。
Laoshi:
Ni
Teacher:
you good Lu Mr.
Teacher:
‘Hello, Mr. Lu. (I’m) happy to know you.’
陸雨平：
hao,
Lu xiansheng, renshi ni
hen gaoxing.
know you very happy
楊老師，認識您，我也很高興。
Lu Yuping: Yang laoshi, renshi
nin,
wo ye
Lu Yuping: Yang teacher know
you
I
hen
also very
gaoxing. happy
Lu Yuping: ‘Mr./Teacher Yang, I’m happy to know you, too.’
(23) Liu et al. 2002a: 169 我嗓子也疼。 Wo sangzi
ye
teng.
I
also
painful
throat
‘My throat is also painful.’
8
In fact, no mention of “topic,” “comment,” or “topic prominence” is made in all the first three volumes of the series I examined, i.e. Liu et al. 2002a, Liu et al. 2002b, and Liu et al. 2003.
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LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications (24) Liu et al. 2002a: 169 我身體沒問題。 Wo shenti
mei wenti.
I
no
health
problem
‘There is no problem with my health.’
As mentioned earlier, the problem with Liu et al. 2002a is that the notions of “topic” and “topic prominence” are not mentioned in the Textbook at all. As far as double nominative constructions are concerned, they are analyzed as having the structure “Subject1 + [Predicate1 Subject 2 + Predicate 2].” 9 According to Liu et al. (2002a), (23) would have the structure in (25). (25)
Wo
sangzi
ye
Subject2
Predicate2
Subject1
teng.
Predicate1
However, as discussed by Tsao (1979), such sentences have a better alternative analysis. That is, they can be analyzed as having a topic-comment structure that involves a clausal comment. As far as (23) is concerned, it has the structure in (26), in which sangzi and ye teng form a clausal comment.
(26)
Wo
Topic
sangzi
ye
teng.
Subject
Predicate Comment
Second, in the newest edition of the series Integrated Chinese, the first instances of topicalization are found in Lesson 5 of Level 1, Part 1.10 They have the same form 9
Liu et al. (2003: 134) analyze sentences with topicalization like (i) as also having the structure of “Subject1 + [Predicate1 Subject 2 + Predicate 2].” Moreover, it is worth pointing out that although topicalizations have occurred in the first volume of the New Practical Chinese Reader series, there is no discussion of such constructions in the grammar section until in the third volume. (i) 那本書，我看過。 [Na-ben shu]i, wo kan-guo i . that-CL book I read-EXP ‘Speaking of that book, I read it before.’ 10 Another instance of topicalization is found in Lesson 7, and it goes as follows: (i) Liu et al. 2009a: 188
81
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 as the underlined parts in (22) except that nimen instead of nin is used in the second instance. However, there is no mention of “topic” and “comment” until Lesson 10, though the remarks made over there concern topicalization. Specifically, the authors comment that in the case of a topic-comment sentence, “the object of the verb can be brought forward to serve as the topic of the sentence” (Liu, Yao, Bi, Ge & Shi 2009a: 256).11 Moreover, although the first instance of the double nominative construction ((27)) is found in Lesson 7 of the same textbook (i.e. Level 1, Part 1), no discussion of this construction is offered in any of the four books of this series.12 It should be pointed out that (27) is a real instance of the double nominative construction and that the main topic of the sentence is wo, not gongke. For one thing, in this example wo and gongke do not form a constituent. This can be seen from the fact that there is a pause after wo. More important, to form a constituent, the modifier marker de is needed to connect wo and gongke when without a contrastive context, as shown in (28). For another, (27) cannot be analyzed as an instance of “the object subtopic construction” discussed earlier (see (13) and (14)), because the second NP gongke cannot be analyzed as the object of the verb zuo ‘to do,” as shown by the ungrammaticality of the sentences in (29).
第七課你們都預習了嗎？ Di qi ke nimen dou yuxi le ma? ORDINAL.NUMBER.INDICATOR seven lesson you all preview PERF QUES ‘Have you all previewed Lesson Seven?’ 11 While it is not unreasonable for the authors to first discuss the notions of “topic” and “comment” at a point where topicalization occurs in the dialog, they fail to add that “topic-comment” is the key to understanding Chinese sentence structure and that topic typically overlaps with subject (see below). 12 Another two good examples of the double nominative construction, namely (i) and (ii) below, can be found in Level 2, Part 1 and Level 2, Part 2 of the same series. (i) Liu et al. 2010a: 181, 183 天明人很好，性格十分開朗，學習也不錯。 Tianming ren hen hao, xingge shifen kailang, xuexi ye bucuo. Tianming character very good disposition very sanguine study also pretty.good ‘Tianming is a good person with a sanguine disposition and his study is also pretty good.’ (ii) Liu et al. 2010b: 5 … 舅媽菜做得好 … … Jiuma cai zuo-de hao… aunt dish cook-EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER well ‘Aunt cooks well.’
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LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications (27) Liu et al. 2009a: 188 … 我功課做得很快。 … wo I
gongke
zuo-de
homework do-EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER
hen
kuai.
very
fast
‘I did my homework very fast.’ (28) 老師批改了我*(的)功課。 Laoshi
pigai-le
wo-*(de) gongke.
teacher correct-PERF I-MM
homework
‘The teacher corrected my homework.’
(29) a. *我做功課得很快。 *Wo
zuo gongke
de
hen kuai.
I
do
EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER
very fast
homework
b. *我做得功課很快。 *Wo
zuo-de
gongke
hen kuai.
I
do- EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER
homework very fast
Intended: ‘I did my homework very fast.’
Finally, with respect to the series Chinese Link by Wu et al., although the double nominative construction occurs in Lesson 16 of the elementary level ((30)), there is no discussion of this construction until in Lesson 14 of the intermediate level.13
(30) Wu et al. 2006: 264 楊歡籃球打得很好。 Yang Huan lanqiu
da-de
hen hao.
Yang Huan basketball
play-EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER
very well
‘Yang Huan plays basketball very well.’
Moreover, although the notions of “topic” and “comment” are introduced in Lesson 7 of the elementary level, it turns out later on pp.116-117 of part 2 of the 13
Example (30) has the same structure as (27) and is also a true instance of the double nominative construction.
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臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 intermediate level that Wu et al. makes a distinction between “subject-predicate sentences” and “topic-comment sentences” and rules out the possibility of analyzing sentences like (31) with “topic” and “comment.” According to Wu et al. (2008b), subject-predicate sentences mainly express an action and topic-comment sentences mainly express a state.
(31) Wu et al. 2008b: 116 我們常做中國飯。 Women chang
zuo
Zhongguo
fan.
we
cook
China
food
often
‘We often cook Chinese food.’
However, it needs to be pointed out that topic and subject are notions of different levels, with the former being a notion of information structure and the latter a notion of grammatical relation. The topic can be the subject of a sentence ((32)), can be coreferential with a (zero) object NP ((33)), or can be a constituent that is not coreferential with any part of the comment ((34)). (32) 他很喜歡中文。 Ta
hen
xihuan
Zhongwen.
he
very.much
like
Chinese
‘He likes Chinese very much.’ (33) 那本書，我看過。 [Na-ben
shu]i, wo
kan-guo
that-CL
book I
read-EXP
i.
‘Speaking of that book, I read it before.’ (34) 那場大火，消防隊員來得有點兒晚。 Na-chang da that-CL
huo,
big fire
xiaofangduiyuan lai-de firefighter
youdianr wan.
come-DE a.bit
‘Speaking of that big fire, the firefighters came a bit late.’
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late
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications Therefore, the distinction between subject-predicate sentences and topic-comment sentences made by Wu et al. is both improper and misleading. By recognizing subject and topic as notions of different levels and by recognizing the fact that topic and subject can happen to be represented by the same sentence constituent, there is no principled reason why (31) cannot be given a topic-comment analysis, on which the topic is women ‘we’ and the comment is the rest of the sentence. More important, by recognizing the fact that topic and subject can be the same sentence constituent, we can have a better appreciation of the permeating topic-prominent nature of Chinese and the importance of the notions of “topic” and “topic-comment” in the language.14 It can be seen from the above discussion of the three representative series of textbooks that the notions of “topic,” “comment,” and “topic prominence” are either not mentioned at all, not given enough attention, or not given an analysis at the right level. In addition, none of the three textbooks discusses the topic-chain construction, in which two or more clauses of the same sentence share the same (primary) topic, although such constructions do occur in these textbooks. For example, the following sentence is from Chinese Link, and it is a topic chain in which all the four clauses of the sentence share the same topic wo ‘I.’
(35) Wu et al. 2006: 317 這幾天我有很多考試，每天都在複習，睡覺睡得太少，所以就病了。 Zhe
ji
you henduo kaoshi, meitian
dou
these several day I
have many
EMPHASIS
zai
fuxi,
shuijiao
shui-de
PROG
review
sleep
sleep-EXTENT/DEGREE.MARKER too little
suoyi jiu so
tian wo
exam
every.day
tai
shao,
bing-le.
then be.sick-PERF
‘These several days I had many exams. I reviewed every day, slept too little, and as a result have got sick.’ 14
There is no mention of the notions of “topic-comment” and “topic prominence” in the first two volumes of the Ni Hao series compiled by Shumang Fredlein and Paul Fredlein. This is something understandable for two reasons. For one thing, the books in this series are intended “for beginning students of upper primary to senior secondary schools” and are often used in elementary schools and kindergartens as well. For another, younger learners might have difficulty grasping the abstract notions in question.
85
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 Furthermore, on the basis of the above discussion, three points can be made. First, it is very important for both instructors and students to be aware of the topicprominent nature of Chinese from the very beginning of teaching and learning the language. Although it is true that the occurrences of constructions like the double nominative construction are not high (see Xie 1992, for example), the availability of such constructions in Chinese and their more frequent occurrences than in English reflect the much greater degree of the influence of information structure on syntax in Chinese than in English and this sets Chinese apart from English and many other languages. When taking into consideration not only non-canonical constructions such as topicalizations but also canonical SV (subject-verb) and SVO (subject-verb-object) constructions, which are normally also subject to a topic-comment analysis at the level of information structure, we simply cannot miss the permeating nature of topic prominence in the Chinese language. As a result, the “topic-comment” organization of Chinese sentences cannot be ignored or neglected and should be explained to students at the earliest appropriate point. In fact, I believe that it reasonable to touch upon the topic-prominent nature of Chinese in the first class of elementary Chinese, where instructors typically give a general introduction of the Chinese language. While such an introduction may vary from instructor to instructor, I advocate that it include a part about the typological differences between Chinese and many other languages, particularly English, including, of course, the difference along the line of topic prominence and subject prominence. Such a comparison conforms to one of the five Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (see also note 4). More importantly, this comparison helps students understand Chinese better from the very beginning, as, as far as topic prominence is concerned, the topic-comment structure is the key to understanding and appreciating the sentence structure and information structure of the Chinese language. The second point I want to make is closely related to the first one. Namely, to achieve the effect of calling learners’ as well as teachers’ attention to the topicprominent nature of Chinese, the notions of “topic,” “topic-comment structure,” and “topic prominence” need to be introduced and systematically discussed in the textbook. As became apparent from the examination of the three representative series of textbooks for Chinese teaching and learning, more attention to topic prominence 86
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications and more systematic introduction and discussion of topic and topic-comment structures are needed in future designs of Chinese language textbooks. Finally, given the importance of topic prominence in the teaching and learning of Chinese, it is important for instructors to attach importance to the topic-prominence features such as the double-nominative construction and the topic-chain construction when assessing students’ proficiency in Chinese, including both comprehension and production. With respect to comprehension, the following three tasks can be used in the assessment of students’ ability in topic-comment structures. First, different topiccomment constructions discussed in this paper, such as those in (36-38) below, can be presented to students and ask them whether they are well-formed or ill-formed in Chinese. (36) 這件事兒，你得自己做決定。 Zhe-jian
shir,
ni
dei
this-CL
matter
you need
ziji
zuo
jueding.
self
make decision
‘Speaking of this matter, you should make a decision by yourself.’ (37) 那件衣服，他已經補了很多次了。 Na-jian yifu,
ta yijing
bu-le
henduo ci
that-CL clothes he already mend-PERF many
time
le. SFP
‘That piece of clothing, he has already mended it many times.’ (38) 他的孩子很聰明，十五歲就開始上大學，二十二歲就獲得了博士學位。 Ta-de
haizi
hen congming,
shiwu
sui
jiu
he-MM
child
very smart
fifteen
year
INDICATING.EARLINESS
sui
jiu
kaishi shang
daxue,
ershier
begin attend
college twenty-two year
huode-le
boshi
xuewei.
get-PERF
doctor
degree
INDICATING.EARLINESS
‘His child is very smart. He started to attend college at the age of fifteen and he got his doctoral degree at the age of twenty-two.’
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臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 Second, the instructor can ask the student a question or present the student, in written form, with a question that involves one of the topic-comment structures discussed in this paper (e.g. (39)), and the student is required to give an answer. The student’s response, then, can be used by the instructor to assess whether the student has really understood the question and the topic-comment structure involved. Finally, translation of sentences that involve the different topic-comment structures can also be used to assess students’ ability in comprehending these structures. (39) 那件衣服，他已經補了很多次了嗎？ Na-jian yifu,
ta yijing
bu-le
henduo ci
that-CL clothes he already mend-PERF many
time
le
ma?
SFP
QUES
‘As for that piece of clothing, has he already mended it many times?’
As for the assessment of students’ ability in using the topic-comment structures, the following two tasks can be used. First, regardless of whether the task is spoken or written, the instructor can introduce a topic (e.g. Zhangsan borrowed three books from a library two weeks ago), and the student is given both explicit information about what will be said about this topic (e.g. whether Zhangsan like the books or not and when he needs to return them) and explicit instructions on what topic-comment structure (e.g. topicalization) should be used in formulating a question (e.g. please ask a question about whether or not Zhangsan like the books he borrowed) or giving an answer. Second, larger oral narratives (e.g. the student is asked to talk about his or her Monday schedule) and longer writings (e.g. the student is asked to describe the house or apartment where he or she lives) can also be assigned. In such a task, the student may or may not be given instructions as to whether any topic-comment structures should be used. However, the instructor needs to keep a keen eye on cases where a topic-comment structure should have been used or should have been used properly. For example, the student may use several sentences instead of just one to describe what is said in (35) and, more importantly, he or she may repeat wo ‘I’ in each sentence. The upshot is that although all the sentences may be grammatical, the natural flow of discourse is clearly missing, which shows that the student has not grasped the topic-chain construction. For another example, the student may use the 88
LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications topic-chain construction in his or her oral or written discourse, but he or she needs some improvement in such uses, particularly in those cases that involve (obligatory) topic-NP deletion (see W. Li 2006, for some suggestions as to the teaching of topic chain per se). To illustrate, I find that some students, in trying to formulate a topicchain construction, often incorrectly use an overt form instead of a zero anaphora to refer to an established topic, as shown in (40a) (cf. (40b)).15,16
(40) a. *這部小說，我看過它，你也看過它嗎？ *[Zhe-bu xiaoshuo]i, wo kan-guo this-CL
novel
I
tai,
read-EXP it
ni
ye
kan-guo
tai ma?
you also read-EXP it
QUES
Intended: ‘I read this novel before. Did you read it before, too?’ b. 這部小說，我看過，你也看過嗎？ [Zhe-bu xiaoshuo]i, wo
kan-guo
this-CL
read-EXP
novel
I
i,
ni
ye
kan-guo
you also read-EXP
i ma? QUES
‘I read this novel before. Did you read it before, too?’
4. Conclusions This paper shows that some Chinese constructions may look disparate from each other at first glance, but are actually united by the fact that Chinese is a topicprominent language. By tying all these apparently disparate constructions together with a common thread of “topic-comment” and “topic prominence,” the paper contributes to our understanding of the importance and the permeating nature of these notions in the organization of Chinese syntax and information structure. Related to this, I have also argued that the fact that Chinese is a topic-prominent language and
15
The examples in (40) also involve topicalization. As far as object omission is concerned, it is normally obligatory when the object NP is inanimate, is something under discussion and maximally “active” in the sense of Chafe (1994), and is not in contrast. As shown in (i) below, na-ben shu ‘that book’ refers to something inanimate and under discussion. In addition, no contrast is involved in this example. In this case, a zero form needs to be used to refer to the entity denoted by na-ben shu, as demonstrated by the ungrammaticality of (i) when a pronoun is used. (i) 我昨天去買那本書，可是沒找到（*/?它）。 Wo zuotian qu mai [na-ben shu]i, keshi mei zhaodao (*/?tai). I yesterday go buy that-CL book but not find it ‘I went to buy that book yesterday but could not find it.’ 16
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臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 English is not is an important factor that contributes to the contrast in grammaticality between the Chinese constructions and their English counterparts. The importance of topic prominence in Chinese is of great pedagogical significance. I have argued that in the teaching and learning of Chinese, it is important (i) to explain to students the topic-comment structure at the earliest appropriate point, (ii) to mention and systematically discuss the notions of “topic,” “topic-comment,” and “topic prominence” in the textbook, and (iii) to take into consideration the topicprominence features when assessing students’ comprehension and production abilities, with respect to which the paper makes some proposals as to how to assess students’ ability in comprehending and using the topic-comment structures. The paper finds that the notions of “topic,” “topic-comment,” and “topic prominence” have not received their due attention and proper analysis in the design of textbooks for the teaching and learning of Chinese. Given the importance of these notions for the understanding and appreciation of Chinese grammar, the paper calls for more explicit and systematic discussions of “topic-comment” and “topic prominence” in future textbooks, at least in those textbooks intended for college (and high school) students. By doing so, both instructors and students can have a better idea of the importance of these notions, which are a key to understanding Chinese syntax and a guide for using the language properly.17
17
While whether to introduce the notions of “topic-comment” and “topic prominence” to kindergarten and elementary school students is something debatable, I believe that explicit and systematic discussions of these notions to college (and high school) students are something worthwhile and rewarding.
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LI：Topic Prominence and Its Pedagogical Implications
References Cao, X., Yang, S., Huang, Y., Gao, L., & Cui, X. (2006). The L2 acquisition of Chinese topic constructions. Chinese Teaching in the World, 2006 (3), 86-102. Chafe, W. (1994). Discourse, consciousness, and time. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Chu, C. C. (1998). A discourse grammar of Mandarin Chinese. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Fredlein, S., & Fredlein, P. (2001). Ni hao, textbook, vol. 1 (rev. ed.). Brisbane: ChinaSoft. Fredlein, S., & Fredlein, P. (2002). Ni hao, textbook, vol. 2 (rev. ed.). Brisbane: ChinaSoft. Fuller, J. W., & Gundel, J. K. (1987). Topic-prominence in interlanguage. Language Learning, 37, 1-18. Lambrecht, K. (1994). Information structure and sentence form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Li, C. (2004). Topic prominence, “double nominative” construction and subject importance in Mandarin Chinese. In C. Ke (Ed.), Proceedings of the Sixteenth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (pp. 221-238). Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California. Li, C. (2008). Mandarin resultative verb compounds: Where syntax, semantics, and pragmatics meet. München: Lincom Europa. Li, C., & Thompson, S. A. (1976). Subject and topic: A new typology of language. In C. Li (Ed.), Subject and topic (pp. 458-489). New York, NY: Academic Press. Li, C., & Thompson, S. A. (1981). Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Li, W. (2004). Topic chains in Chinese discourse. Discourse Processes, 37 (1), 25-45. Li, W. (2006). Incorporating topic chains into pedagogical grammar of Chinese. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 41 (1), 31-56. Liu, X., Zhang, K., Liu, S., Chen, X., Zuo, S., & Shi, J. (2002a). New practical Chinese reader, textbook, vol. 1. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Liu, X., Zhang, K., Liu, S., Chen, X., Zuo, S., & Shi, J. (2002b). New practical Chinese reader, textbook, vol. 2. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Liu, X., Zhang, K., Liu, S., Chen, X., Zuo, S., & Shi, J. (2003). New practical Chinese reader, textbook, vol. 3. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Liu, Y., Yao, T.-C., Bi, N.-P., Ge, L., & Shi, Y. (2009a). Integrated Chinese, textbook (simplified characters), level 1, part 1 (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui. 91
臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4 Liu, Y., Yao, T.-C., Bi, N.-P., Ge, L., & Shi, Y. (2009b). Integrated Chinese, textbook (simplified characters), level 1, part 2 (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui. Liu, Y., Yao, T.-C., Bi, N.-P., Ge, L., & Shi, Y. (2010a). Integrated Chinese, textbook (simplified characters), level 2, part 1 (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui. Liu, Y., Yao, T.-C., Bi, N.-P., Ge, L., & Shi, Y. (2010b). Integrated Chinese, textbook (simplified characters), level 2, part 2 (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui. National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. (2006). Standards for foreign language learning in the 21st century: Including Arabic, Chinese, classical languages, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish (3rd ed., rev.). Lawrence, KS: Allen Press. Teng, S.-H. (1974). Double nominatives in Chinese. Language, 50, 455-473. Tsao, F.-F. (1979). A functional study of topic in Chinese: The first step towards discourse analysis. Taipei: Student Book. Tsao, F.-F. (1990). Clause and sentence structure in Chinese: A functional perspective. Taipei: Student Book. Wu, S.-M., Yu, Y., Zhang, Y. & Tian, W. (2006). Chinese link: Elementary Chinese (simplified character version). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Wu, S.-M., Yu, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2008a). Chinese link: Intermediate Chinese, part 1. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Wu, S.-M., Yu, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2008b). Chinese link: Intermediate Chinese, part 2. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Xiao, Y. (2004). L2 acquisition of Chinese topic-prominent constructions. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 39 (3), 65-84. Xie, T. (1992). An examination of the topic-prominence of Chinese language learners’ interlanguage (Doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh. Xu, L. (2002). Is Chinese a discourse-configurational language? Zhongguo Yuwen 2002 (5), 400-410. Xu, L., & Liu, D. (1998). The structure and function of topic. Shanghai: Shanghai Educational Press.
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話題突出和其在教學方面的意義
李朝 紐約市立大學
本論文的主要觀點是，有些漢語結構表面上不怎麼相關，實 際上卻統一於話題突出之下。同時，漢英兩種語言在這些結構是 否合乎語法方面表現出的差異，至少可以部分歸因於漢語是話題 突出型語言而英語不是這一事實。漢語的話題突出對於中文教學 來說，至少在下列三個方面有著重要意義：（一）教師有必要儘 早向學生介紹“話題－述題”結構；（二）教材有必要系統地介 紹“話題”、“話題－述題”和“話題突出”這些概念；（三） 在考察學生漢語水準時，需要把話題突出的特徵考慮進去。
關鍵字：話題突出、話題－述題結構、漢語、教材編寫
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臺灣華語教學研究 總第四期 Taiwan Journal of Chinese as a Second Language, Vol. 4
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