On the syntactic typology of topic marking: a comparative study of Japanese and Korean
Reiko Vermeulen · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · 2009
This paper investigates the syntactic distribution of topics in Japanese and Korean. The literature on the two languages notes a number of similarities, but also some differences particularly with respect to so-called contrastive topics. However, no unified account for the two languages has been proposed. I show that similarities as well as such differences are systematic and predicted by a syntactic typology of information structural notions proposed by Neeleman et al. (to appear). The typology claims that there are syntactic rules that are sensitive to information structural notions [topic], [focus] and [contrast]. I demonstrate that Japanese and Korean exemplify the same rule for [topic] and the same rule for [contrast]. This results in a conflict for contrastive topics. I propose that in such a situation, there is parametric variation as to which operation is adopted. In Japanese, the rule for [topic] is adopted, while in Korean the rule for [contrast] is adopted. Some consequences for phrases marked by the putative topic markers wa in Japanese and nun in Korean, which are often noted not to behave like topics (Kuroda 1965, 2005, Choi 1999), are also discussed.