The present paper has put forward three arguments pertaining to left-dislocation in Japanese and information structure theory (Lambrecht 1994). (i) The function of left-dislocation is not limited to announcing the topic of the following clause. It can announce not only topic but also focus, for in Japanese, Korean, and English, left-dislocation can be employed in answering a wh-question. (ii) Since indirect question clauses including an interrogative can be left-dislocated, open propositions represented by such clauses are eligible as a topic, not to speak of a discourse referent. (iii) The function and features of left-dislocated elements are quite similar to those of Japanese bare topical NPs which have been pointed out in previous studies, and the structure of left-dislocation is consistent with that of topical bare NPs. Japanese topical bare NPs can be considered left-dislocated elements with their coreferential pronoun ellipted.
情報構造理論と日本語の左方転位
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概要
