Thematization, prolepsis, additional remarks

In this paper, I study the relationship between topicalization and prolepsis in Berber. I first identify the notion of topicalization from privileged syntactic structures. Once the phenomenon has been defined from a formal point of view, I describe the behavior of the emphasis morpheme d and the preposition i in specific contexts where they seem to function as topic markers. The preposition i, in particular, which has a vague, polysemous meaning, presents a range of varied uses resulting in comparisons with Japanese (wa) and Korean (nun). Then I consider prolepsis as a particular case of topicalization in dependent verbal syntagms and in some subordinate clauses. This enables me to explain the special use of French dont or English whom as circumstantial adjuncts naming what is the subject of the following speech.