Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Language

charles n. li and sandra a. thompson
1975

subject-prominent lanaguges: English
Topic-Prominent Languages: Chinese
Subject-Prominent and Topic-Prominent Langauges: Japanese, Korean
Neither Subject nor Topic Prominent Languages: Tagalog

Mandarin (TP):
"here very hot
'It is hot in here.'

possible this-CLASS war will soon end aspect
'It is possible that this war will soon end.'"

double subject constructions:
Japanese:
"fish-TOPIC red snapper SUBJ delicious
'Fish (topic), red snapper is delicious

Korean:
airplane-top. 747-subj. big-stative
'Airplanes (topic), the 747 is big.'

Mandarin:
that tree leaves big
'That tree (topic) the leaves are big.'"