[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-661117-105":59,"doc-detail-661117-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-sentence-internal-topic-and-focus-in-chinese","The Sentence-Internal Topic and Focus in Chinese","","The paper investigates how Chinese expresses information structure within a sentence-internal domain between the subject and the verb. It argues that the preposed object construction can realize either sentence-internal Topic or sentence-internal Focus. The analysis requires two distinct projections dedicated to Topic versus Focus, and rejects single-projection approaches based on data from Chinese. The study further shows how the proposal explains both preposed-object patterns and Chinese verb-copying constructions by linking syntactic behavior and interpretation to Topic/Focusing.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-sentence-internal-topic-and-focus-in-chinese/661117/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-sentence-internal-topic-and-focus-in-chinese/661117.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"MrHarris58","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the “sentence-internal domain” in Chinese discussed in the paper?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It is the structural space between the subject and the verb, roughly between TP and vP, where the object can appear preposed.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the paper distinguish sentence-internal Topic from sentence-internal Focus?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The distinction is supported by differences in compatibility with constructions such as emphatic shi, and by contrasting behavior in wh-question answers versus discourse-given material.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the paper argue against a single-projection analysis for Topic and Focus?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper argues that Chinese data require two distinct projections for Topic and Focus, and that the single-projection analysis proposed for Bulgarian is not supported by the Chinese evidence.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},661117,1793158101,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":41},687212988360,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","|  |  | Job Name: -- /337544t |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n|  |  | BLS 34, No 1 2008. DOI: [http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/bls.v34i1.3588](http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/bls.v34i1.3588)\u003Cbr>(published by the Berkeley Linguistics Society and the Linguistic Society of America)\u003Cbr>The Sentence-Internal Topic and Focus in Chinese1\u003Cbr>YU-YIN HSU\u003Cbr>Indiana University, Bloomington\u003Cbr>0. Introduction\u003Cbr>In Chinese, the object is allowed to occur in the domain between the subject and the verb, which I refer as the “sentence-internal domain,” approximately below TP and above vP. This is called the preposed object construction, as in (1) .\u003Cbr>(1) Zhangsan na.ben.shu 1 kanguo.le ec 1\u003Cbr>Zhangsan [that.CL.book](that.CL.book) read.PERF\u003Cbr>‘Zhangsan has read that book.’\u003Cbr>In the literature, there is a dispute over the preposed object construction. Some linguists argue for such sentences as involving a Secondary Topic, as opposed to the sentence-initial Topic (e.g. Tsao 1990 and Paul 2002) . Conversely, some linguists refer to such sentences as involving Focus, based on the contrastive interpretation conveyed by the sentence-internal element (e.g. Tsai 1994, Ernst and Wang 1995, Shyu 1995, and Huang 2009) .\u003Cbr>In this paper, I argue for the sentence-internal domain in Chinese. I will show that the preposed object can be either Topic or Focus in the sentence-internal domain. I will argue that two distinct projections are needed sentence internally for Topic and Focus, and that an analysis of single-projection as proposed by Lambova (2004) for Bulgarian is not supported by Chinese data. The discussion will then proceed to show how the proposed analysis accounts for the preposed-object and the so-called verb-copying constructions in Chinese.\u003Cbr>1. The Sentence-Internal Domain in Relation to Information Structure\u003Cbr>In Chinese, Topic and Focus show different syntactic properties in answering wh-questions, in the structure of emphatic shi and in terms of indefinite noun\u003Cbr>ϭ I am especially grateful to Dr. Yoshihisa Kitagawa for discussions and comments which have been of great help and inspiration, and I want to thank Dr. Steven Franks for his suggestions and for his always being supportive. I also thank Dr. Daniel Büring and the audience of BLS34 for their insightful comments.\u003Cbr>􀀗􀀖􀀚 |  |  |\n|  |  |  |  |  |\n|  |  | In order to view this proof accurately, the Overprint Preview Option must be checked\u003Cbr>in Acrobat Professional or Adobe Reader. Please contact your Customer Service Rep- |  |  |\n\nresentative if you have questions about finding the option.  \nJob Name: -- /337544t  \nYu-Yin Hsu  \nphrases. Assuming Chinese can license Topic and Focus in the domain of CP, the following discussion will show that the same contrast between Topic and Focus also carries over to the sentence-internal domain.  \nGenerally, Topic can be either overt or covert in answering questions, but answers to wh-questions are Focus and cannot be optional. This observation holds in the sentence-internal domain of sentences in Chinese. (2a) and (2b) show that the sentence-internal item zuoye ‘assignment’ can be optional when it is mentioned in the previous discourse, i.e., Topic (also see Paul 2002) .  \n(2) ni zuoye xiewan.le ma? you assignmentwrite.PERF Q.PART‘Are you done with your assignment?’  \na. wo zuoye xiewan le  \nI assignmentwrite PERF  \n‘I am done with the assignment.’  \nb. wo ec xiewan le  \nI write PERF  \n‘I am done with [it] .’  \nOn the other hand, while sentence (2a) is used to answer a wh-question like (3a), the sentence-internal element zuoye ‘assignment’ is obligatory, since it is the answer to the wh-question. In other words, the same domain now is relevant to Focus. Furthermore, the stressed intonation on zuoye ‘assignment’ in (3b) indicates its Focus status.  \n(3) [a. ni](a. ni) shemo xiewan.le? you what write.PERF  \n‘What have you finished?’  \nb. wo zuoye xiewan le (zuoye can be stressed) I assignmentwrite PERF  \n‘THE ASSIGNMENT, I have fi","cbCaimVNUpcDsZxR","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimVNUpcDsZxR","pdf",830716,12,"English","# Introduction\n## The Sentence-Internal Domain in Relation to Information Structure","[{\"question\":\"What is the “sentence-internal domain” in Chinese discussed in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"It is the structural space between the subject and the verb, roughly between TP and vP, where the object can appear preposed.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper distinguish sentence-internal Topic from sentence-internal Focus?\",\"answer\":\"The distinction is supported by differences in compatibility with constructions such as emphatic shi, and by contrasting behavior in wh-question answers versus discourse-given material.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper argue against a single-projection analysis for Topic and Focus?\",\"answer\":\"The paper argues that Chinese data require two distinct projections for Topic and Focus, and that the single-projection analysis proposed for Bulgarian is not supported by the Chinese evidence.\"}]","The Sentence-Internal Topic and Focus in Chinese | PDF"]