Topic-comment construction

The topic-comment construction refers to any sentence that contains a topic and a sequence of words commenting on the topic, as demonstrated in (6.2)–(6.4).

Although many researchers (Li and Thompson 1975; Tsao 1979, 1990; Shi 2000) consider Chinese a topic-prominent language, as opposed to a subject-prominent language such as English, they maintain that some of the basic Chinese sentences are the topic-comment constructions as those in (6.2)–(6.4), and some are the subject-predicate constructions as those in (6.5)–(6.6).

(6.2) 今天要下雨。

jīntiān yào xiàyǔ.

TOPIC COMMENT

“Today (it) will rain.”

(6.3) 功课做完了。

gōngkè zuòwán le.

TOPIC COMMENT

“(My) homework (is) finished.”

(6.4) 苹果，我们都不吃皮。

píngguŏ wŏmen dōu bù chī pí.

TOPIC COMMENT

“Apple, we all do not eat (its) skin.”

(6.5) 他常说笑话。

Tā cháng shuō xiàohua.

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

“He often tells jokes.”

(6.6) 他们昨天都在家。

tāmen zuótiān dōu zài jiā SUBJECT PREDICATE

“They yesterday were all at home.”

Notice that both topic and comment in the topic-comment construction consist of flexible elements. The topic in Chinese does not have to be the doer or agent of the action described by the verb in the sentence. Topic can be a concept of time as in (6.2) or a concrete thing as in (6.4). The comment may be a verb phrase or sentence and it may even contain a subject as wŏmen “we” in (6.4). This flexibility of constituents of the topic-comment construction is not available in English sentences, as illustrated by the English translations in (6.2)–(6.4). Without the elements in parentheses, the English sentences are not acceptable.

In teaching the topic-comment construction, the most important thing teachers can do is to explain the function of this construction: when to use this construction. By associating topics with something known or mentioned in previous discourse, students can be encouraged to comment on them using whatever structure they can think of. Whether the topic is “today’s class” or

“homework”, students can freely comment on it as shown in (6.7)–(6.8).

(6.7) Q: 今天的课怎么样？

jīntiān de kè zĕnme yàng?

“Today’s lesson, how was it?”

a: 今天的课太难了。

jīntiān de kè tài nán le.

“Today’s lesson is too difficult.”

b: 今天的课我没有准备。

jīntiān de kè wŏ méiyŏu zhǔnbèi.

“Today’s lesson, I did not prepare”

c: 今天的课我学了很多东西。

jīntiān de kè wŏ xuéle hĕnduō dōngxi

“(At) today’s lesson, I learned a lot of things.”

d: 今天的课我觉得没意思。

jīntiān de kè wŏ juéde méi yìsi.

“Today’s lesson, I think (it was) boring.”

(6.8) Q: 你们的功课呢？

nĭmen de gōngkè ne?

“What about your homework?”

a: 功课我忘了做了。

gōngkè wŏ wàngle zuò le

“Homework, I forgot to do (it).”

b: 功课没带来。

gōngkè méi dài lái.

“Homework (I) did not bring (it).”

c: 功课太多，没有时间做。

gōngkè tài duō, méiyŏu shíjiān zuò.

“Homework too much, (I) did not have time to do (it).”

d: 功课明天交，行不行？

gōngkè míngtiān jiāo, xíng bù xíng?

“Homework, (I’ll) turn it in tomorrow, is that okay?”

f: 我的功课在这儿。

wŏde gōngkè zài zhèir.

“My homework is here.” or “I have my homework.”

The key task is to help students use sentence structures they have learned previously to comment on the topic. Any structures, from a predicate to a verb phrase to a statement to an interrogative sentence, can function as a comment. In addition, comparison between the topic-comment construction and its equivalent in students’ native languages can also enable students to become conscious of the difference between Chinese and their native languages.

Due to the linguistic characteristics of the topic-comment construction discussed above, I suggest that it be taught at the elementary level after students have learned the basic structures of phrases and sentences (e.g. subject + verb + object, subject + predicate, and negative and interrogative constructions). Later, with the development of students’ competence in expressing complicated ideas with complex sentences, teachers may reintroduce the topic-comment construction and ask students to comment on complicated topics with complicated comments, as shown in (6.9).

(6.9) Q: 你们对伊拉克战争有什么看法？

nĭmen duì yīlākè zhànzhēng yŏu shénme kànfă

“What do you think about the Iraqi war?”

a: 我觉得这次战争是一次正义的自由解放战争。

wŏ juéde zhèicì zhànzhēng shì yícì zhèngyì de zìyóu jièfàng zhànzhēng .

“I think this war is for justice, freedom and liberation.”

b: 得了吧，解放战争？解放谁？伊拉克人民？

dé le ba. jiĕfàng zhàngzhēng? jiĕfàng shéi? yīlākè rénmín?

“Nonsense. Liberation war? Liberate who? Iraqis?

成千上万的伊拉克人没被解放，反而见了阎王爷。

chéngqiānshàngwàn de yīlākè rén méi bèi jiĕfàng, fănér jiànle yánwàngyé.

“Thousands of Iraqis went to see the King of the Dead before being liberated.”

c: 这次战争至少把萨达姆搞下台了。

zhèicì zhàngzhēng zhìshăo bă Sàdámǔ găo xià tái le.

“This war at least got rid of Saddam.”

d: 再说啊，这次战争花了美国多少钱？你知道吗？

zài shuō a, zhàicì zhànzhēng huāle mĕiguó duōshăo qián? nĭ zhīdào ma?

“Besides, how much money does this war cost the US? Do you know?”

The topic (underlined) of the conversation given in (6.9) is about the Iraqi War started in 2003. Four people comment on this topic. Among them, three (6.9b, 6.9c and 6.9d) use the topic-comment construction to express their opinions. (6.9a)

does not use a prototypical topic-comment construction; however, it is clear from the context “I” is not the topic of that sentence. Even though it is debatable whether grammatically “this war” is the topic of the sentence in (6.9a), no one disagrees that the focus of the sentence is on “this war”, not “I” in the subject position. Clearly, both ideas and structures of comments in (6.9) are much more complicated than those in (6.7)–(6.8). The comments given by (6.9b), (6.9c) and (6.9d) use respectively the bèi construction, the bă construction and the rhetorical question, all structurally and functionally more advanced than the basic sentences used in (6.7) and (6.8).

We have seen that all the examples and facts discussed so far point to one conclusion: the topic-comment construction is a productive structure in Chinese.

Any sentence structures that students have learned, simple or complicated, can be used as a comment in the topic-comment construction.