Is a mechanism of syntax that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic (or theme) by having it appear at the front or beginning (word order) of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position further to the right). Their topicalization of arguments in English is rare, whereas circumstantial adjuncts are often topicalized. Placing the subject at the beginning of the sentence is typical for English. Most languages allow topicalization, and in some languages topicalization occurs much more frequently and or in a much less marked manner than in English. Chinese, Korean and Japanese have been identified as topic-prominent languages. Unlike subject-prominent languages, such as English, French and German. Topic-prominent languages put the topic first (the thing the sentence is about), eg, “Chocolate, I like”, or “Americans, he can’t stand”, which Chocolate and Americans are topics and I and he are subjects. Subject-prominent languages put the subject first (doer of the action), eg, “John makes beer” which makes John the subject, as he is the one doing the making. Portuguese Brazilian is a topic-prominent or topic- and subject-prominent language, which can also be found in European Portuguese.
Examples of typical cases of topicalization: (a) The boys roll rocks for entertainment; (b) For entertainment the boys roll rocks. (a) Everyone refused to answer because the pressure was too great; (b) Because the pressure was too great, everyone refused to answer. (a) I won’t that pizza; (b) That pizza, I won’t eat.
