Editing Pro-drop language (section)

==Topic pro-drop languages==
In everyday speech there are instances when who or what is being referred to — namely, the topic of the sentence — can be inferred from context. Languages which permit the pronoun to be inferred from contextual information are called topic-drop (also known as discourse pro-drop) languages: thus, topic pro-drop languages allow referential pronouns to be omitted, or be [[phonology|phonologically]] null. (In contrast, languages that lack topic pro-drop as a mechanism would still require the pronoun.) These dropped pronouns can be inferred from previous discourse, from the context of the conversation, or generally shared knowledge.<ref name="Jung 2004 713–738">{{Cite journal|last=Jung|first=Euen Hyuk (Sarah)|date=2004|title=Topic and Subject Prominence in Interlanguage Development|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00284.x|journal=Language Learning|language=en|volume=54|issue=4|pages=713–738|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00284.x|issn=1467-9922|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Among major languages, some which might be called topic pro-drop languages are [[Japanese language|Japanese]],<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last1=O'Grady|first1=William|last2=Yamashita|first2=Yoshie|last3=Cho|first3=Sookeun|date=2008|title=Object Drop in Japanese and Korean|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20462508|journal=Language Acquisition|volume=15|issue=1|pages=58–68|doi=10.1080/10489220701774278 |jstor=20462508 |s2cid=143578926 |issn=1048-9223|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Korean language|Korean]],<ref name=":4" /> and [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Li|first=Yen-Hui Audrey|date=2014-11-01|title=Born empty|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384113002301|journal=Lingua|series=Structural Approaches to Ellipsis|language=en|volume=151|pages=43–68|doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2013.10.013|issn=0024-3841|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Topic-prominent language|Topic prominent languages]] like Korean, Mandarin and Japanese have structures which focus more on topics and comments as opposed to English, a subject-prominent language.<ref>Li, Charles & Thompson, Sandra. (1976). Subject and Topic: A New Typology of Language. Subject and Topic.</ref> It is this topic-first nature that enables the inference of omitted pronouns from discourse.

=== Korean ===
The following example from Jung (2004:719) Korean shows the omission of both pronouns in the subject and object position.

{{fs interlinear|lang=kr|indent=3
| 너   이것   필요하니?
|Neo igeot pilyohani?
|you this need
|Do you need this?}}

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|필요해
|pilyohae
|need
|('''I''') need ('''it''').<ref name="Jung 2004 713–738">{{Cite journal|last=Jung|first=Euen Hyuk (Sarah)|date=2004|title=Topic and Subject Prominence in Interlanguage Development|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00284.x|journal=Language Learning|language=en|volume=54|issue=4|pages=713–738|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9922.2004.00284.x|issn=1467-9922|url-access=subscription}}</ref>}}

=== Japanese ===

Consider the following examples from Japanese:<ref name=":5" />

{{fs interlinear|lang=ja|indent=3
|この ケーキ は 美味しい。 誰 が 焼いた の？
|Kono kēki wa oishii. Dare ga yaita no?
|This cake TOP tasty-PRS Who SUBJ bake-PAST Q
|This cake is tasty. Who baked ('''it''')?}}

{{fs interlinear|lang=ja|indent=3
|知らない。 気に入った？
|Shiranai. {Ki ni itta?}
|know-NEG. like-PAST
|('''I''') don't know. Did ('''you''') like ('''it''')?}}

The words in parentheses and '''bold'''face in the English translations (''it'' in the first line; ''I'', ''you'', and ''it'' in the second) appear nowhere in the Japanese sentences but are understood from context. If nouns or pronouns were supplied, the resulting sentences would be grammatically correct but sound unnatural. Learners of Japanese as a second language, especially those whose first language is non-pro-drop like English or French, often supply personal pronouns where they are pragmatically inferable, an example of [[language transfer]].

=== Mandarin ===

The above-mentioned examples from Japanese are readily rendered into Mandarin:

{{fs interlinear|lang=zh|indent=3|glossing=no abbr
|这 块 蛋糕 很 好吃。 谁 烤 的?
|Zhè kuài dàngāo hěn hǎochī. Shéi kǎo de?
|This piece cake DEGREE tasty. Who bake MODIFY
|This cake is tasty. Who baked ('''it''')?}}

{{fs interlinear|lang=ja|indent=3
|不 知道。 喜欢 吗?
|Bù zhīdào. Xǐhuan ma?
|Not know. like Q
|('''I''') don't know. Do ('''you''') like ('''it''')?}}

Unlike in Japanese, the inclusion of the dropped pronouns does not make the sentence sound unnatural.