Essays on Writing and Language in Honor - Sino-Platonic Papers

S~hnJffeschrifr: &says in Homr of John DeFrancis
3.3 Tl1e Contrastive Function
One of the discourse functions of the primary topic is to provide contrast (see Barry,
1975; Tsm, 1979, Chapter 6). This can be clearly seen in the following examples.
(19) & bu qu; qu.
he not go I go
'(If) he doesn't want to go, I will.'
(20) fan bu chi le, zai duo he
rice not eat PART wine still more drink
yi-dian.
a-little
'(As for) rice, we will have no more, but wine, do drink a little more.'
Likewise, secondary topics such as the second nominal in the double nominative
construction are often used contrastively as in (21).
(21) ta -5 zhang de hen hao-kan, - bizi
he eye grow PART very good-looking nose
que bu zen-me-yang.
on: t he: con t rary not so:great.
'Speaking of him, (his) eyes are very beautiful, (but) (his) nose is just so-so.'
Now examine the temporals and locatives occurring in the position in question.
They, too, possess this function, as shown in (22) and (23).
(22) ta zai Taiwan you hen duo pengyou, zai zhe-li
he in Taiwan have very many friend in this-LOC
yi-ge ye meiyou.
one-CL also not:have
'In Taiwan he has many friends, (but) in this place he has none.'