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3.3.2.2 Indefinites
A second diagnostic for the information status of subjects comes from indefinites. It has
been argued that topics may not be indefinites because topics must refer to an entity, and
indefinites are non-referring. Marshallese indefinite DPs may not be topics, as illustrated
by (306). In these sentences, the DP following kōn 'about' is a topic. (306a) shows that, if
this phrase is definite, the sentence is grammatical. However if this phrase is indefinite, it
becomes ungrammatical (306b).
(306) a. E-ar ba kōn lon# eo bwe e-j pād ilowan jaibo eo. 22
3s.agr-T(past) say about fly the.s that 3s.agr-T(pres) stay in jaibo the.s
'She said about the fly that it is in the jaibo.'
b. *E-ar ba kōn juon lon# bwe e-j pād ilowan jaibo eo.
3s.agr-T(past) say about a fly that 3s.agr-T(pres) stay in jaibo the.s
'She said about a fly that it is in the jaibo.'
If a topic may not be indefinite, then internal subjects should not be able to be indefinites
if they are topics. Since this is possible (307) and (308), we can conclude that the internal
position is not a topic position.
(307) E-ar kālok juon ek jān Ĝoon.
3s.agr-T(past) jump a fish from boat.
'A fish jumped from the boat.'
(308) R-ar emōĦōĦo jet mama kōn tuj.
3pl.agr-T(past) be.happy some mother because.of dancing
'Some mothers were happy with the dancing.'
3.3.2.3 Sentence initial non-subject DPs
Another argument against sentence internal subjects being topics comes from non-subject
sentence initial phrases. First, consider (309).
22 Jaibo is a type of Marshallese soup.
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