LT3216 Chinese Linguistics Week 3 PDF
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City University of Hong Kong
2024
Dr. LEE Tsz Ming (Tommy)
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Summary
This document is a lecture for a Chinese Linguistics course, discussing topic and focus structures in the Chinese language. It examines different types of topics, including thematic and contrastive topics, and explores various theories regarding their derivation. The course is offered at City University of Hong Kong during the 2024/2025 academic year.
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Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References LT3216 Chinese Linguistics Topic and Focus Week 3, Semester A, 2024/25...
Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References LT3216 Chinese Linguistics Topic and Focus Week 3, Semester A, 2024/25 Instructor: Dr. LEE Tsz Ming (Tommy) [email protected] City University of Hong Kong 19 September, 2024 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 1 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 2 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 4 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Information structure Information structure refers to the interface between “the structure and meaning of linguistic utterances," and “the interlocutors mental representations of information, discourse referents, and the overall universe of discourse." See Information Structure (Oxford Bibliographies) What it does, and how: “in speech communication, information flow is structured so as to allow the interlocutors to regulate and control the way information is transferred in discourse." (Chen, Po-lun Lee, and Pan 2016) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 5 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Information structure Very roughly speaking, it concerns how we deliver/encode information in a sentence. Note that it contrasts with proposition meanings. (1) Same proposition meaning; different information structures a. 我學過 semantics。 b. Semantics 我學過 。 Related notions: focus, emphasis, topics, old information, new information, contrastive reading, givenness, defocus, etc. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 6 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Information structure Long black vs. Americano “Pouring an espresso over hot water better retains the crema, hence a long black is known for its stronger aroma and taste." source Week 3 - Topic and Focus 7 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Notions in information structure are notorious for a lack of clear and precise definition. Chinese is considered a topic-prominent, with extensive use of topic-comment structures. But focus structures are also common in Chinese. I would also introduce a third one to you, defocus (or antifocus). Major grammatical means to structure information Word order alternation Use of certain morphemes (i.e., grammatical markings) Stress and intonation However, the actual infomration structural effects have no one-to-one correspondence to the grammatical means. We will proceed in this direction: Info structural status ➔ its subtypes ➔ morpho-syntactic forms Week 3 - Topic and Focus 8 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 9 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Topic In the discussion of topics, we distinguish topics from subjects. (Tsao:1977) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 10 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Topic In short, Subjects stand in relation to verbs. Topics stand in relation to the rest of the sentence. But an element can be both subject and topic at the same time. We also distinguish Thematic topics (TT) Contrastive topics (CT) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 11 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Basic characteristics “there is an ‘aboutness’ relationship between the topic and the comment" Week 3 - Topic and Focus 12 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic “Gapless" topic structures a.k.a. Dangling topics, Hanging topics, Chinese-style topics Week 3 - Topic and Focus 13 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Topic “Gapped" topic structures: the topic corresponds to an empty spot. When the topic refers to human beings, it is possible to “resume" the gap by filling a pronoun. (2) a. 張三,我已經見過 他 了。 b. 呢啲學生,我已經見過 佢地 喇。 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 14 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Optional topic markers: Topic elements can also be marked explicitly, though optionally. (3) a. 我呢,∆ 學過 semantics。 b. Semantics 呢,我學過 ∆ 。 Verbal topics: Topicalization is not restricted to NPs. VP can also be the topic of a sentence. (4) a. 自己一個去食自助餐呢,我就唔敢 ∆ 嘅。 b. 自己一個去吃自助餐呢,我是不敢 ∆ 的。 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 15 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic A derivational debate: how the topic ends up being in the initial position? Base generation ➔ it is “born" there in the leftmost position. (5) Topic S V O Movement ➔ it undergoes movement to the leftmost position. (6) OTopic S V O (in case of Object topics; O can be any element) Topic movement Note: by consdiering derivation, I hope to engage you in a fairly common syntax debate. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 16 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Given that we have (at least) two types of thematic topics, Option 1: a unified movement account (Shi:2000) How it accounts for apparent challenges: (7) a. Movement: 水果 ,我最喜歡 水果中的 香蕉。 b. Subjects, rather than topics: 那場大火 ,幸虧消防隊來得快。 Whether this is a good account depends on how well these suggestions handles counter-examples. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 17 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Option 2: a unified, base generation account All topics are base generated, and “gaps" are actually filled by null pronouns (pro) co-indexed with the topic. (8) 張三,我見過了 pro 。 Topic S V pro Some challenges (Huang 1982, 1984): (9) a. 我看見了 [NP 張三爸爸 ] 。 b. 張三,我看見了 ∆ 爸爸 ] 。 (a) ̸= (b) ➔ If ∆ were a pro, we should have obtained (a). We don’t, so we know it isn’t. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 18 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic A similar challenge: (10) a. 在學校,我看到 [NP 一些同學 ] 受了傷。 Ambiguous b. 在學校,我看到 [NP 一些受了傷的同學 ] 。 Unambiguous Underlyingly, either instance of ∆ in (a) may be a pro, referring to 在學校. (11) a. 在學校,我 ∆ 看到 [NP 一些同學 ] ∆ 受了傷。 b. 在學校,我 ∆ 看到 [NP 一些 ∆ 受了傷的同學 ] 。 However, the embedded ∆ in (b) cannot be a pro, as it is not ambiguous. What a movement acount would say? Topic Movement out of a NP is not possible in Chinese. Island conditions Week 3 - Topic and Focus 19 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Option 3: a non-unfirom account "Gapless" topics are derived via base generation. "Gapped" topics are derived via movement. The modest account, but now we already learnt that Some, though not all, “gapless" topics may be derived by movement, and Some, though not all, “gapless" topics may be derived by base generation. Can we ever determine the “reality" of a simple topic sentence? (12) Semantics 呢,我學過 ∆ 。 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 20 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Thematic Topic Important questions (not further discussed in this course, see HLS (2014), p.102-107): 1 The classification and definition of topics; 2 The relative order of different topics; 3 Whether the topic corresponds to a gap in the sentence; 4 More on how the topic ends up being in the initial position (movement vs. base generation). Week 3 - Topic and Focus 21 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ Contrastive Topic “Contrastive topics (CTs)," as opposed to “thematic topics (TTs)" ➔ Topics that are introduced for contrastive topic. (not distingushable from TTs in terms of word order) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 22 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ Contrastive Topic Preposed objects also belong to this kind. (Shyu 1995; Huang, Li, and Li 2009) (13) a. 我 這本書 沒看過。 b. 我 酒 不喝了。 c. 我 三個小孩 還可以應付(但五個不太行)。 Because of its contrastive nature, some consider them to be focus elements. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 23 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ Contrastive Topic Two differences between CTs and TTs First, CTs disallow resumption. (14) a. 張三 女孩 找到 ∆ 了。(男孩還沒有)。 b. *張三 女孩 找到她了。 Recall that TTs allow resumption. (15) a. 女孩 ,張三找到 ∆ 了。 b. 女孩 ,張三找到她了。 It thus dismisses a double TT possibility. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 24 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ Contrastive Topic Second, CTs can target verbs. = Verb doubling necessarily leads to a contrastive, but not thematic, topic. (16) 食,佢係食過呢種魚嘅。 Sik keoi hai sik-gwo ni-zung jyu ge2. (Lee 2022) eat s/he cop eat-exp this-kind fish sfp ‘As for eating, s/he has eaten this fish (but... ).’ The sentence contains both a verbal “topic" and a cleft structure. Contrastive reading on the doubled verb Verum focus/emphasis on the truth of a proposition Week 3 - Topic and Focus 25 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Interim summary Chinese usually contains topics in a sentence (topic-prominent). Topicality relies heavily on word order, with limited grammatical devices that encode it. Syntactically, the derivation of these topic elements has attracted much attention. movement vs. base generation Semantically, “topic" is an ill-defined term, and may be a misnomer in some cases. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 26 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 27 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Focus Focus refers to elements that stand out in a sentence. e.g., information focus and identificational focus In many languages, focus elements exhibit a special prosodic patterns, e.g., pitch accent. (cf. Suprasegmentals) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 28 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Focus Another example: Do Chinese also make use of pitch accent? Is it a must? Can focus be distinguished phonetically/phonologically? Week 3 - Topic and Focus 29 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Focus “the use of prosody and stress to signal focus or distinguish focus types in Mandarin Chinese is quite limited and different from languages such as English with a clear nuclear stress rule." Chinese “uses more syntax and less phonology in focus realization” (Xu 2004, p. 277) See Chen, Po-lun Lee, and Pan (2016) for a different view. But there are designated constructions that convey focus interpretation. 1 cleft structures 是…的/係…嘅 2 ‘even’-focus constructions 連…都… 3 the focus particle ‘only’ (not discussed) 只有/淨係 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 30 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Three components: (i) Focus particles + (ii) focus elements + (iii) (DE) In what follows, I show you three set of data, and you figure out what allows/disallows to serve as the focus elements. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 31 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Sentences with a pre-verbal shi can be ambiguous between different focus readings, but not always. (17) a. 他 是 學語言學的(,不是教語言學的)。 b. 他 是 學語言學的(,不是教數學的)。 c. # 他 是 學語言學的(,不是我)。 (18) a. 他 是 去年學語言學的,不是今年。 b. #他 是 去年學語言學的,不是學數學的。 # VP focus c. 他 是 在城大學語言學的,不是在中大。 d. #他 是 在城大學語言學的,不是教語言學的。 # V focus Week 3 - Topic and Focus 32 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Sentences with a pre-subject shi can also be ambiguous between different focus readings. (Narrow) Subject focus vs. broad focus (19) a. 是 他 在城大學過semantics,不是我。 b. 是 他學過semantics ,不是我教過syntax。 c. # 是 他 在城大 學過semantics,不是在中大。 From the above examples, what can/cannot be marked as focus by shi? Your observation: Week 3 - Topic and Focus 33 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Question: How do we mark object focus with 是...的? (20) 我在公園裡找到 你的狗 There are two ways (at least). Week 3 - Topic and Focus 34 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Object fronting: (21) 是 你的狗 我在公園裡找到的(,不是張三的貓)。 In-situ object: (22) 我是在公園裡找到 你的狗 的(,不是張三的貓)。 What do you observe? Week 3 - Topic and Focus 35 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures Two important properties of shi: Shi cannot get into a VP-internal position. (23) *我在公園裡 [VP 找到 是 你的狗 ] 的。 To focus the object, 是 need not be adjacent to its focus correlates. (24) 我 是 在公園裡 [VP 找到 你的狗 ] 的。 Indeed, this extends to any VP-internal element. (25) a. 我 是 在公園裡 [VP 找到你的狗 三次 ] ,不是兩次。 b. 我 是 在公園裡 [VP 找到 你的 狗 ] ,不是張三的。 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 36 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures We end up with an accurate but not very neat generalization: (26) a. Shi can only focuses its adjacent element, b.... unless the intended focus element is VP-internal. We stop here, but potential questions include: (27) a. What forbids shi to get into a VP? b. What allows shi to choose to focus on objects at a distance? c. Is this unique to Chinese? (Probably not; but how general?) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 37 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures: further issues Exhaustivity reading In English cleft structures, the focus element is exhaustivity interpretation. “the focus denotation is the only one that leads to a true proposition" (28) a. It is [Focus John and Bill] that stole a cookie. (Krifka 2008) b. #And Mary did so too. The focus particle only also conveys an exhaustive reading. (29) a. Only [Focus John and Bill] stole a book. b. #And Mary did so too. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 38 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❶ Cleft structures: further issues Paul and Whitman (2008) distinguish two types of Mandarin clefts. (30) a. 他 是 在北京學中文 的 ,#但也 是 在上海學 的 。 b. 他 是 在北京學中文,但也在上海學過。 For them, Shi... de: with exhaustive reading genuine clefts Bare shi: without exhaustive reading another construction Discuss whether this holds in other cases. Your observation: Week 3 - Topic and Focus 39 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ ‘Even’-focus constructions “The element immediately following lian is presupposed to be the least expected in the speaker’s presupposition (e.g., the notion of ‘contra-expectation’ " Movement (argument fronting) or base generation? (skipped, see HLS (2014), p.112-115) Week 3 - Topic and Focus 40 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ ‘Even’-focus constructions The syntactic categories of the focus elements are as flexible as the shi...de structures. (31) a. 連 這本書 他昨天都不想看。 b. 連 他 昨天都不想看這本書。 c. 連 昨天 他都不想看這本書。 But there are some more variants: (32) a. 連 看這本書 他昨天都不想。 b. 連 看 他昨天都不想看這本書。 c. 連 看這本書 他昨天都不想看。 Week 3 - Topic and Focus 41 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ ‘Even’-focus constructions Intriguingly, this construction can even target a subpart of a (monomorphemic) word, at least in Cantonese. Eight Taels of Gold 《八兩金》 (1989) (33) a. Sylvia:... 你tra過vel未架? ‘Have you traveled?’ b. Sammo: 未tra過! ‘I haven’t!’ c. Sylvia:... 你mar咗ry 未架? ‘Have you married?’ d. Sammo: 未啊,唔單止未mar過ry,連ss都未ki過 ‘I haven’t married. I haven’t even kissed (someone).’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 42 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References ❷ ‘Even’-focus constructions More examples: (34) 我地group... 連 sent 都冇得 pre 啦。 (Blog) Ngodei group... lin -sen dou mou dak pi- laa3. our group even-present also not.have able present sfp ‘Our group even lost our chance to present.’ (35) 噉佢哋以後就連 修 都唔使 裝 。 (Social media) Gam keoidei jihau zau lin -sau dou m sai zong-. then they afterwards zau even-furnish also not need furnish ‘Then they don’t need to even furnish (this place).’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 43 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Interim summary Compare the cleft structures and ‘even’-focus constructions. Cleft structures ‘Even’-focus constructions focus particle focus meaning syn. category of focus post-verbal focus? adjacency required? create a gap or sth else? Week 3 - Topic and Focus 44 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 45 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus Right dislocation (RD): elements may appear non-canonically in the right periphery instead of the left periphery. (36) a. 佢有冇買呀 架車 ? (Lee 2017) Keoi jau mou maai aa3 gaa ce? 3SG have not.have buy SFP CL car ‘Has s/he bought the car?’ b. 佢去外國做研究呀 同王先生 。 (Lee 2017) Keoi heoi ngoigwok zou jingau aa3 tung Wong sinsaan. 3SG go overseas do research SFP with Mr. Wong ‘S/he goes overseas to do research with Mr. Wong.’ c. 佢實買間大屋啦 會 。 (Matthews and Yip 2011) Keoi sak maai kaan daai uk laa1 wui 3SG sure buy CL big house SFP will ‘S/he will surely buy a big house.’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 46 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus What is the information structural status of the right dislocated elements? Obviously not focus. Topic on the right? Probably not a contrastive topic A thematic topic, perhaps? For what purpose would you put some elements at the end? I present four pieces of evidence against the topic approach to RD. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 47 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus ❶ The range of elements What can be right dislocated cannot be topicalized (i.e., RD ̸= rightward topicalization). (37) Auxiliary verbs and prepositional phrases cannot be topicalized a. * 會 佢實 ∆ 買間大屋啦。 * Wui keoi sak ∆ maai kaan daai uk laa1 will 3SG surely buy CL big house SFP Intended: ‘S/he will surely buy a big house.’ b. * 同王先生 佢∆去外國做研究呀。 *Tung Wong sinsaan keoi ∆ heoi ngoigwok zou jingau aa3 with Wong Mr. 3SG go overseas do research SFP Intended: ‘S/he goes overseas to do research with Mr. Wong.’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 48 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus ❷ Topic marker RD-ed elements cannot be marked by the topic marker le 呢. (38) a. 架車 呢 佢有冇買呀? gaa ce le keoi jau mou maai ∆ aa3? CL car TOP 3SG have not.have buy SFP ‘Has s/he bought the car?’ b. *佢有冇買呀 架車 呢 ? *Keoi jau mou maai ∆ aa3 gaa ce le? 3SG have not.have buy SFP CL car TOP ‘Has s/he bought the car?’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 49 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus ❸ Resumptive pronouns In topic constructions, a gap can be replaced by a co-indexing/resumptive pronoun. But such a pronoun is disallowed in RD. (39) a. 阿明 我係唔會幫 佢 架。 Aaming ngo hai m wui bong keoi gaa3 Aaming 1SG COP NEG will help 3SG SFP ‘Aaming, I will not help him.’ b. ??我係唔會幫 佢 架 阿明 。 ?? Ngo hai m wui bong keoi gaa3 Aaming 1SG COP NEG will help 3SG SFP Aaming Intended: ‘Aaming, I will not help him.’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 50 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus ❹ Wh-expressions A wh-expression can be topicalized (Wu 1999), which presupposes a set of possible answers. But a wh-expression cannot be RD-ed. (40) a. 邊樣野 你識做 ∆ 架? Bin joeng je nei sik zou gaa3? which CL stuff 2SG know do SFP ‘Which thing do you know how to do?’ b. *你識做 ∆ 架 邊樣野 ? *Nei sik zou gaa3 bin joeng je? 2SG know do SFP which CL stuff Intended: ‘Which thing do you know how to do?’ Week 3 - Topic and Focus 51 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus If the RD-ed element is not a (thematic) topic, then what is it? The notion of defocus (or antifocus) (Lee 2017, 2020) a pragmatic one with a syntactic reflex (like topic, focus) a defocus is interpreted as less important information; it enables a constituent to escape the focus domain and to realize its discourse linking. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 52 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Defocus We can cash out this intuition in terms of two pragmatic notions, namely, “noteworthiness" and “discourse continuity" defocus signals non-noteworthiness by marking an element that, from the perspective of the speaker, does not have any unexpected or interesting property. the defocused element fails to become or maintain the topic of the discourse, i.e. the speaker prevents it from being the topic of the subsequent discourse. +Discourse continuity -Discourse continuity +Noteworthiness Focus NA -Noteworthiness Topic Defocus Week 3 - Topic and Focus 53 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Interim summary There is a close relation between word order and information structure. Chinese provides with a great arena to explore the encoding of information structure in natural language. Left periphery: topic or focus (of different kinds) Right periphery: defocus The right periphery is fairly restricted in English, but is to varying degree rich in many other Asian languages, e.g., Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Hindi, Bangla, etc. Great opportunities for comparative works Week 3 - Topic and Focus 54 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Information structure 3 Topic 4 Focus 5 Defocus 6 Before we go Week 3 - Topic and Focus 55 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References Before we go Questions Comments Read for next time: Huang, Li and Simpson (2014), Chapter 7, Sentence-final particles. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 56 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References References I Chen, Yiya, Peppina Po-lun Lee, and Haihua Pan. 2016. “Topic and Focus Marking in Chinese.” The Oxford Handbook of Information Structure: 733–752. Huang, C.-T. James. 1982. “Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar.” PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Huang, C.-T. James. 1984. “On the Distribution and Reference of Empty Pronouns.” Linguistic Inquiry 15:531–574. Huang, C.-T. James, Yen-Hui Audrey Li, and Yafei Li. 2009. The syntax of Chinese. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Krifka, Manfred. 2008. “Basic notions of information structure.” Acta Linguistica Hungarica 55 (3-4): 243–276. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 57 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References References II Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming. 2017. “Defocalization in Cantonese right dislocation.” Gengo Kenkyu 152:59–87. Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming. 2020. “Defending the notion of defocus in Cantonese.” Current Research in Chinese Linguistics 99 (1): 137–152. Lee, Tommy Tsz-Ming. 2022. “Towards the unity of movement: implications from verb movement in Cantonese.” PhD diss., University of Southern California. Matthews, Stephen, and Virginia Yip. 2011. Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. 2nd. London: Routledge. Paul, Waltraud, and John Whitman. 2008. “Shi... De focus clefts in Mandarin Chinese.” Linguistic Review 25 (3-4): 413–451. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 58 / 59 Introduction Information structure Topic Focus Defocus Before we go References References III Shyu, Shu-ing. 1995. “The Syntax of Focus and Topic in Mandarin Chinese.” PhD diss., University of Southern California. Wu, Jianxin. 1999. “Syntax and semantics of quantificaiton in Chinese.” PhD diss., University of Maryland at College Park. Xu, Liejiong. 2004. “Manifestation of informational focus.” Lingua 114 (3): 277–299. Week 3 - Topic and Focus 59 / 59