The Topic and Y Indefinite in Cebuano

This paper examines two arguments in Cebuano: the topic and the y indefinite.1 These two noun phrases are referential opposites: the topic must refer to a presupposed object, while the y indefinite is either quantified or nonspecific in reference. Both noun phrases play a central role in the syntax of Cebuano clauses. Interestingly, their functions are better defined in terms of reference properties and discourse-based notions such as modes of judgement, rather than grammatical notions such as case. These two arguments seem to instantiate topic and focus relations at the sentence-level. In this paper the topic and y indefinite are analyzed in terms of a structural account which makes use of projections such as TopicP and FocusP. Such an account is inspired, in part, by analyses of so called “discourse configurational” languages (Kiss 1995, Szabolcsi 1996, Pearson 1996).

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