主题、焦点与主题焦点

Topic,Focus and Focal Topic

文章主要考察了主题、焦点与主题焦点这三个语言学概念。作者提出主题是一个句法概念,其基础生成于小句首的位置。而焦点是一个话语功能的概念,其只能附加在非主题成分上,所谓主题焦点,只是具有对比功能的主题,与同时具有突出功能的焦点不宜混为一谈。

This paper focuses on the three interrelated linguistic terms,i.e.topic,focus and focal topic.It is proposed,after a thorough comparison and examination,that topic is basically a syntactic component which base-generates at the clausal beginning position,while focus is fundamentally a discourse notion which adds to non-topic elements within a clause.It is concluded that the so-called focal topic is generally a topic that boasts contrasting function,which should not be confused with the focus that could also be of projecting function.