The Arabic topic-comment structure

This study aims to discuss the properties of the Arabic Topic-Comment structure and its implications in terms of movement rules. A fundamental distinction is drawn between the topic-comment structure and constructions that fall under focusing phenomena. It will be argued that the topic-comment structure is base-generated, while focused constituents are transformationally generated. Therefore, constructions that fall under the rule of ocus will not involve whmovement; rather, the focused constituent will leave a trace at the original site that is co-indexed with it, hence it carries all the features of that trace. This analysis will call into question the grouping of the topic-comment structure, i.e., left-dislocation, and focusing, i.e., topicalization, under the same analysis in Chomsky (1977) and subsequent literature