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Universal 381:
- Original
- All languages have constructions whose function is to place topic, both old and new, before comment.
- Standardized
- All languages have constructions whose function is to place topic, both old and new, before comment.
- Keywords
- topic, comment, order, focus
- Domain
- syntax, pragmatics
- Type
- unconditional
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- absolute
- Basis
- a sample of 30 languages, see Gundel 1988: 210;
a sample of 1063 languages, see Tomlin 1986: 155-259
- Source
- Gundel 1988: 231, Tomlin 1986: 48
- Counterexamples
- Nilotic lgs tend to move old information to the end of the clause (Payne 1990: 11)
1. Tomlin: In clauses information that is relatively more thematic precedes information that is less so. 2. Cf. ##1416, 1417, 1418.