Contiguity Theory and the Ordering of Contrastive Elements

This article examines the typology of the ordering of contrastive elements. It is shown first that languages including English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Georgian ban a contrastively focused object from preceding a contrastive topic subject. It is further observed that among these languages, only English and French allow a contrastively focused subject to precede a contrastive topic object. To explain this typology, an extended version of Contiguity Theory is proposed. The account is also compared with some potential alternative accounts and argued to be more desirable, with additional empirical virtues.