A Survey on the Relationship between Topic, Topicalization and Topicality Presupposition in Persian

Lambrecht (1996)، within the theoretical framework of information structure، introduces «The Topic Acceptability Scale»، which of course works for topicalization too. Moving from the top of the scale towards the bottom، the chance of constituents functioning as topic reduces more and more. Lambrecht defines topic based on the concept of «aboutness» and proposes the topicality presupposition as the precondition for being topic; that is، the topic should be the issue under discussion، or to put it differently، the focus of attention. However، he leaves three important questions unanswered: is topicality presupposition a single category with no variation or a varied one; what is the relationship between topicality presupposition and the topic acceptability scale; and is it possible to find topics (and naturally topicalization) at all the levels of the scale. The present study tries to see، based on Persian data، how much Lammbrecht''s scale is applicable to NP topicalization.