This paper originated from the irregular phenomenon founded from prepositional strnaidng avoidance strategy in a topicalized sentence representing 'the comitative object of action'. It attempted to find the underlying regularity behind the avoidance s...
This paper originated from the irregular phenomenon founded from prepositional strnaidng avoidance strategy in a topicalized sentence representing 'the comitative object of action'. It attempted to find the underlying regularity behind the avoidance strategy of prepositional stranding used in the topicalization situations of accompanying objects, which superficially seem irregular.
To avoid prepositional stranding, sentences where the accompanying object is topicalized use the prepositional phrase retention strategy. In this case, in addition to the prepositional phrase retention strategy, the adverb "一起" (yīqǐ, meaning "together") is used as an auxiliary means to express accompanying meaning in the subject sentence. The use of "一起" can be categorized into three types based on the characteristics of the predicate.
First, in topicalized sentences with highly interactive predicates, only the prepositional phrase is retained without using "一起." Second, in topicalized sentences with predicates that are neither highly interactive nor low in interactivity, "一起" can be used, but it is not mandatory.
Third, in topicalized sentences with low interactivity, "一起" is used in addition to the prepositional phrase retention strategy to emphasize the participants who jointly perform the action along with the topic.
This phenomenon is related to the function of topicalization itself. In particular, in Type III, the use of "一起" serves to ensure the clarity of the topicalized component that includes the accompanying object. The optional use of "一起" in sentences where the accompanying meaning is topicalized aligns with the essential function of topicalization itself, namely, to clearly establish the scope of the topic itself, further clarifying the scope of the predicate as well.