Many topic-prominent languages share several syntactic features that have arisen because the languages have sentences that are structured around topics, rather than subjects and objects: 這個这个zhège人人rén個子个子gèzi很很hěn高。高。gāo(traditional)(simplified) 這個 人 個子 很 高。这个 人 个子 很 高。zhège rén gèzi hěn gāo"This person (topic) height (subject) very tall.
"そのsonoヤシはyashi-wa葉っぱがhappa-ga大きい。ookiiその ヤシは 葉っぱが 大きい。sono yashi-wa happa-ga ookii"That palm tree (topic) leaves (subject) are big.
"The Lolo–Burmese language Lisu has been described as highly topic-prominent,[1] and Sara Rosen has demonstrated that "while every clause has an identifiable topic, it is often impossible to distinguish subject from direct object or agent from patient.
"[2] This ambiguity is demonstrated in the following example:[1] làthyupeoplenyaTOPánàdogkhùbite-a-DECLlàthyu nya ánà khù -apeople TOP dog bite -DECLa.
魚はsakana-wafish-TOP鯛がtai-gared.snapper-NOMおいしい。oishi-idelicious-NPST魚は 鯛が おいしい。sakana-wa tai-ga oishi-ifish-TOP red.snapper-NOM delicious-NPSTWhen it comes to fish, red snapper is delicious.