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This chapter discusses the important difference between a given-new distinction on the one hand, and the concepts of Topic and Focus on the other. It introduces the basic concepts that form the theoretical framework of the description of word order in Greek. It aims to provide sufficient background for the general classicist to follow the discussion in the coming chapters.

This chapter argues that in both Sophocles and Euripides, questions show a distribution of pragmatically marked information over the clause that is compatible with a Topic-Focus-verb pattern. The majority of questions do not feature a Topic constituent, and the sole Focus constituent is the question word. Questions being interpreted as containing multiple Focus constituents are discussed. Most of these questions are in fact a character's emotional reaction to the situation they are confronted with, which sets them apart from the questions. The traditional problem of the postponed interrogative is also discussed.

This chapter deals with the acceptability and interpretation of referential null subjects (NSs) and compares consistent pro-drop in Italian with equivalent sentences in Finnish (a partial NS language), in different syntactic constructions (matrix, completive, factive, and adverbial clauses). This leads to the formulation of an original proposal that opens new perspectives for future research. Specifically, based on the interpretive judgements of 273 native speakers of Finnish, it is shown that a Topic chain analysis (Frascarelli 2007) can (and should) be assumed in partial NS languages as well, and that ‘partiality’ cannot be explained through narrow syntactic constraints. The Locality requirement is thus re-proposed as an Interface Visibility Condition (IVC), according to which in partial NS languages a pro is preferably interpreted as referring to the closest overt link in a Topic chain. The Topic Criterion is thus proposed as a Macroparameter of NS languages and the necessity of a ‘graded analysis’ ascribed to the IVC (as a Mesoparameter).

The main goal of this chapter is to provide a comparative overview of some of the principal aspects of information and discourse structure in Romance, covering such areas as the packaging of information structure according to the encoding of oppositions such as Topic-Comment, Topic-Focus, Given-New; the role and effects of illocutionary force (e.g., declarative, interrogative, exclamative), different clause types (thetic vs non-thetic predications), and the root vs embedded distinction in discourse organization; the encoding of the subject of predication; thematic progression in the realization of arguments; modal subordination and anaphora. Specific topics dealt with include: topic, focus, and sentence types; sentence-focus structures (unmarked word order; verb-subject inversion); predicate-focus structures and topicalization constructions (clitic left dislocation, hanging topic, clitic right dislocation); argument-focus structures and focalization constructions (postverbal focalization and cleft sentences, contrastive focus fronting, information focus fronting, mirative fronting, verum focus fronting, QP-fronting).

We briefly discuss a number of phenomena that illustrate potential consequences and extensions of the TTC. Partial and split control are only possible in logophoric complements, because predication as such only permits a unique, exhaustive saturator. The puzzling case of "Actor Control" in Tagalog, normally presented as evidence that control must apply to semantic representations, may be analyzed as syntactic "topic control". Finally, recent evidence for controlled pronouns and reflexives (in Hungarian, Spanish and Korean), surfacing with focal stress, imply that minimal pronouns such as PRO may be spelled out under special circumstances.

This chapter focuses on the even-construction in Mandarin Chinese and Italian and on the preposed object in the low periphery of Mandarin Chinese. The even-construction can play two roles, Focus and Topic, and so we can have, in Mandarin Chinese and in other languages, constructions that qualify syntactically as foci, but semantically as topics. The closest candidate for this type of construction is the bare preposed object in the low periphery of Mandarin, which has a low periphery consisting of two kinds of functional projections, the bare preposed object and the lian+XP—we demonstrate that the preposed object is not a focus, but a topic-like element. The chapter concludes by observing that the low periphery in Mandarin is articulated in projections that differ from those of the high periphery, and our investigation also highlights the fact that the notions of Topic and Focus are more fine-grained than what was originally thought.

Wh-fronting constructions in Cantonese have counterparts in Mandarin that have been analyzed as either a type of Topic structure or Focus construction. One goal of this chapter is to argue that wh-fronting constructions in Cantonese are best analyzed as a type of Identificational Focus construction. The second goal of this chapter is to explore the fine structure of the left periphery in Cantonese and its implications for two prominent lines of research on the distribution of Topics and Foci. Specifically, the findings lend empirical support to one line of research that analyzes Topic and Focus as fields, contra the other line of research that analyzes Topics as a set of recursive projections occurring above and below a single Focus projection. The investigation further reveals that the inventory of Topics and Foci available in individual languages and their hierarchical order are the result of the interplay between language-specific and universal principles.