On some properties of subjects and topics

Subjects bear certain interpretive similarities to topics, and yet the two notions are clearly distinct, both in their formal status, position, and interface properties. In this article I would like to identify some analogies and differences between subject and topic in the context of the general issue of the causes of phrasal movement. After a brief discussion of the “movement as last resort” guidelines, I would like to address the question of the interface effects related to movement to subject position. This will lead to a discussion of some interpretive similarities and differencies between subject and topic, and to the possible restatement of the EPP as a Subject Criterion. The consequences of this approach for the analysis of subject-object asymmetries induced by movement will be briefly mentioned. The article will be concluded by an analysis of the discourse conditions which must be met for a felicitous use of Clitic Left Dislocation topics in Italian.