Relativization and Topicalization in Hittite ()

1.0 Li and Thompson (1974d) have proposed that languages are to be typologically differentiated on the basis of topic prominence as opposed to subject prominence. E.L. Keenan ( Definition of Subject , this volume) and others have argued on the basis of subject properties which appear to be language universal that subject-predicate is a universal organizational principle in language rather than a typological criterion. Givón (this volume) has further suggested that topic is language universal rather than typological. It is the purpose of this paper to present data from a synchronic analysis of Old Hittite in support of a classificational dichotomy in language based on topic prominence as opposed to subject prominence. The argument presented here assumes with Li and Thompson (1974d) that topic prominence is a semantically based organizational principle as opposed to the syntactically based subject-predicate organizational principle, and that, while both topic and subject may be expressed, one principle of organization systematically dominates the grammatical patterns of a particular language. It is the purpose of this paper to show that, although Hittite codifies the subject-verb relationship very often, the semantic organizational principle based on topic prominence is primary in a way that it is not in subject prominent languages like English and other modern Indo-European languages.

Argument (complex analysis) · Hittite language · Linguistic universal · Natural language · Subject (documents) · Topicalization · Ancient Near East History · Linguistics and language evolution · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation