Talk:Topic-prominent language

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How does it differ from analytic language? --Puzzlet Chung 17:24, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That belongs on a different classification. "Topic-prominent" implies a certain organization of propositions and sentences (pragmatics). "Analytic" is a matter of morphemes being more or less isolated (morphology). Chinese is analytic and topic-prominent. Japanese is quite synthetic and also topic-prominent. --Pablo D. Flores 21:00, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] ASL example

Why is the third ASL example marked with "*"? Does it mean it's ungrammatical? --89.1.71.7 10:46, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Isn't the ASL rather an example of the "various idiosyncratic means for topicalization" used by non-topic-prominent languages? --Ippei 12:45, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] French?

French loves to use disjunctive pronouns, e.g. "on va le tuer, le docteur!" - is this topic-prominency? It's an IE language, however. Elle _{vécut heureuse} ^{à jamais} (Be eudaimonic!) 02:14, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

In away it is, but as to its syntax, I think it is clearly of non-topic-prominent language's that has much less systematic means of marking topic. --Ippei 12:52, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Significance?

Any information on cultural consequences of topic-prominent language versus non-topic-prominent language?