José, Probably the best-known text that deals with these issues is Martha Kolln's Rhetorical Grammar. Also, the Center for Applied Linguistics did a short bibliography on linguistics and the teaching of composition, back in 1994, that contains a number of articles on functional concepts that are useful in the teaching of composition. You can find it at http://www.cal.org/ericcll/minibibs/Role.html I'm sure there is more than that available, but I don't know the composition literature as well as others on this list. I suspect that Craig's forthcoming text will deal interestingly with functional issues. Herb -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of José Antonio Santos Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 8:32 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Syntax question Herb, could you suggest some books or articles that deal with "topic/comment" and that could be used in a unit for undergraduate linguistics students. Thank you. -José -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stahlke, Herbert F.W. Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 12:17 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Syntax question Topic-comment terminology and concepts come out of several strands of functional linguistic analysis, starting at least with early Halliday work and probably going back farther than that. Topic has been discussed extensively in connection with definitions of subjecthood. The Chinese example that Johanna gave is an example why linguists argue that Chinese is a topic-comment language rather than a subject-predicate language. Topic comes initially in a sentence, but there is no other grammatical or morphological marking of subjecthood in Chinese. In English, subjects are usually topics, but we have structures, like some of those under discussion in this thread, which allow us to make something else topic. We also have sentences that start with subjects that aren't topics, like It's raining. It looks like UCLA will win the PAC-10. There's an elephant behind that tree. Typically such sentences are used to introduce new content (focus) at the end of the sentence that then becomes the topic of the discourse. "Topical" refers usually to nominal structures in a sentence that are neither topic nor focus, have been previously mentioned or are in some other way salient, and are not in topic or focus position. In the sequence I just talked to Mary. John gave her a ring. It had a fake stone. "Mary" is in focus. "John" is topic. "her" is topical, and "a ring" is in focus. "It" is topic, and "a fake stone" is in focus, so it might well become the subject of the next sentence. Topic continuity and the given-new contract are concepts that can be very useful in the teaching of writing because they name crucial elements of discourse structure. Herb Herb -----Original Message----- From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Paul E. Doniger Sent: Sun 10/30/2005 9:09 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Syntax question Johanna is right. I didn't know that the reduntant pronoun was called "topic-comment" (it sounds like an odd term to me), but it seems to me that it can be very effective rhythmically. Labelling it as ungrammatical in all cases does seem extreme. It occurs in French, too. I think it's a song by Edith Piaf that has the line, "Quand j'ai fame, moi j'ai le pain." It's a downright beautiful line! Paul D. Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]> wrote: .......... As to topic-comment, this terminology appears in some writing manuals with reference to structures such as "My father, he seldom votes". They are labeled outright ungrammatical, which I find a little extreme. I view the Beowulf example as similar. Topic-comment syntax is standard in some languages. A rough example I recall from my structure-of-Chinese course is "Elephant, nose is long", which would be translated as "Elephants have long noses". I can imagine a novice writer writing something like "As far as elephants, they have long noses". To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/