Apropos the topic : On topic-introducing expressions in Swedish

• The inquiry into topicality calls for a deeper understanding of explicit "topic markers" such as apropos and concerning, which are found in many if not all the languages of Europe. From a syntactic perspective, phrases introduced by such expressions are not identifiable with any of the construction types that alter the information structure of the clause involving the left periphery. Thus, apropos and concerning do not introduce a syntactically topicalized element, nor a dislocated element, nor a hanging topic, given some commonly assumed criteria. Instead, it is argued here that phrases introduced by apropos and concerning represent a fourth such construction type. From the view point of information structure, apropos and concerning, and presumably similar topic-marking expressions, differ in the sense that they lexicalize pragmatic features such as aboutness and givenness in different ways. The argumentation is based on Swedish data and limited to two such expressions: Apropå 'apropos' and beträffande 'concerning'.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Aboutness.

Dislocation

Given-ness

Hanging topic

Left dislocation

Topicalization

Publikations- och innehållstyp

kap (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)