Contrast Analysis on Chinese and English Sentence Structures Based on Subject—prominent and Topic—prominent Features

李丹

I. Introduction

In the past，it was believed that subject-predicate sentence structure is shared by both Chinese and English； however，confusion was aroused when western linguistic theories were directly applied to Chinese studies，for they failed to address problems in Chinese studies. In recent years，many scholars thought there are four basic types of languages：subject-prominent language，topic-prominent language，both subject and topic-prominent language，and neither subject nor topic prominent language，arguing Mandarin has the element ‘topic and is a topic-prominent language （Li & Thompson，1975； 1981）. Therefore，the view that the subject-predicate sentence structure is shared by both Chinese and English was no longer held.

II. Contrast between Chinese and English Sentence Structures

English and Chinese differ greatly，and English has been held as subject-prominent language while Chinese is the topic-prominent one，for they are rooted in different language families：Indo-European family and Sino-Tibetan one.

i. Properties of topic in Chinese

Chinese is a topic-prominent language with the topic-comment structure. Topic，the nucleus of a sentence，is what the sentence talks about. The rest part is comment，provides description or explanation towards the topic and is the main information flow. This sentence structure doesnt have comprehensive grammatical rules，with meaning being the key factor. Cao （1995） states six features of topic in Chinese，while Ma （2010） addresses four when discussing the differences between topic and subject. This section talks about the features of topic as follows：

1） Topic always occupies the initial position of a topic chain.

Topic usually takes the sentence-initial position and is the starting point of information and what the speaker assumes the listener knows about. Continuing from the topic，the speaker gives new information. In the following examples，the underlined phases，the topics，occupy the initial positions and are what the sentences are addressed at. The rest of the sentences are expended around the topic to provide more information about the topics.

這些作業(yè)，最好這周五之前交。

如果他也去的話，我就不去了。

2） Topic is identified with modal particles denoting pause，i.e.啊 （呀），呢，嘛，吧.

If the insertion of a modal particle is allowed between one noun phrase and the remainder of the sentence，it can be safely deduced that this noun phrase is the topic of the whole sentence. In the examples，each underlined phrase is ended with a modal particle （呀，嘛），and is the topic. These modal particles are the marks indicating the topic in a sentence.

法國嘛，今年不去了。

這件衣服呀，真好看！

3） Topic is always definite.

The topic in Chinese is definite，which means the topic is known to the parties participating in the communication and is the center of the statement. In each example，the underlined is the topic in the sentence，which is known to the speaker and the rest participants. Therefore，it is obvious that the topic in Chinese is definite.

今天的內(nèi)容，希望各位能保密。

關(guān)于這個孩子，我沒有辦法了！

4） Topic can be omitted.

As the main difference between Chinese and English structures is that English focuses on hypotaxis，while Chinese emphasizes parataxis，showing the meaning is the most important point in Chinese. Wang （1984） argues that considering the sentence structure，as western languages are governed by law，the structures are strictly required no matter whether they are actually meaningful； while Chinese is governed by people，therefore，the structures are only used if necessary，and sometimes，can be omitted if listener can understand what you said.

（你）去不去？

（我們）一起去？

It can be seen in the examples that the topics can be omitted without influencing the understanding of the meanings. Of course，the omitting can only be carried out under the context that the participants know each other well and the topic being talked about； otherwise，the participants should fail to understand the meaning.

ii. Properties of subject in English

In English，subject and predicate comprise the backbone of a sentence with other elements being attached to them. Predicate must be in agreement with its subject grammatically. Semantically，there is a direct selectional relationship between subject and predicate，too. On the whole，an English sentence is controlled by its subject and predicate with both grammar and meaning as underlying rules. The section mainly analyzes the features of subject in English from the following aspects.

1） Subject usually occupies the initial position in a sentence.

In English，subject usually is in the initial position in a sentence，for the basic sentence structure is SVO. Generally，subject is on the left of predicate. However，in English，there exist grammatical subject，logical subject and semantic subject. Logical subject，the subject in logic，is the agent in a sentence. Grammatical subject，the subject in form，is on the left of predicate. The thematic subject，the topic in a sentence，is in the initial position. In the following examples，all the underlined phrases are subjects in English，but they represent different subjects.

Mary （G，L，T） finished her homework.

The homework （G，T） was finished by Mary （L）.

The homework （T），Mary （G，L） finished it.

2） There exists the agreement relationship between subject and predicate.

In subject-prominent languages，subject-predicate structure pattern is the basic one. However，one of the important features is that there exists agreement relationship between subject and predicate，i.e. subject should agree with verb/verbal phrase in number，which may be the reason why there are single and plural forms for noun，pronoun and verb in English，which is clearly shown in the following examples：

Jack likes travelling in holidays.

They are coming.

3） Subject cannot be omitted.

As in English the basic structure is SVO pattern，subject is the essential component in a sentence structure and cannot be omitted，except the imperative sentences. That is to say，the subject-predicate structure in English sentences should be complete.

Mom and dad love me very much.

The buildings are tall.

The above examples are all complete sentences with subject and predicate，and the subjects are the information to be expanded. Without subject，English sentences will not be complete； therefore，subject cannot be omitted in subject-prominent languages.

III. Conclusion

The paper briefly contrasts Chinese and English sentence structures through analyzing the features of topic in Chinese and subject in English. As the paper only talks about subject features in English and topic features in Chinese，the analysis does not mean there is no topic in English or no subject in Chinese. There exist topic and subject in both，but the positions of subject and topic in these two languages are different，which results in the topic-prominent and subject-prominent languages. Therefore，when we do translation between these two languages or write in one of the two languages，we should pay attention to the sentence features in the two languages，especially the target language.

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