Syntactic Functions of"Topic"and Integration and Separation of Subject and Object between Chinese and English
There are different views on the syntactic function of"Topic"in the Chinese clause.From a functional per-spective,this article discusses the syntactic functions of"Topic"in Chinese clauses with reference to their English translations,aiming to reveal the underlying causes of relevant disputes.The results show that Chinese and English differ from each other in the syntactic representations of atypical unmarked participant role topical Theme,marked participant role topical Theme,circumstantial role topical Theme and multiple topical Theme.Chinese"Topics"are not restricted by formal categories;their construction and identification depend on subject and context;and in turn,their syntactic functions may be interpreted in different ways.By contrast,English stresses the segmentation and for-mal representations of grammatical elements,and therefore,the syntactic functions of"Topics"are relatively clear.The aforementioned differences in the two languages might be ascribed to the discrepancies in the basic philosophi-cal thinking modes:Chinese values the unity of man and nature and the integration of subject and object while Eng-lish emphasizes ontological inquiry and the separation of subject and object.
"Topic"Syntactic FunctionsIntegration of Subject and ObjectSeparation of Subject and Object