This paper aims to present a novel picture of the left periphery in Shanghainese with special reference to the position of topic. We find that, contrary to “major-vs.-sub-vs.-sub-sub-topic” distinction, all TopPs in Shanghainese land outside IP. The only landing site for pre-posed adverbs is Spec-TopP (rather than an independent Mod(ifier)P). Int(errogative)P is always generated lower than TopP. The difference between NP topics and AdvP topics lies in that the former can be headed by both spelt (with lexical topic marker) and silent (with comma intonation) heads, while the latter can only land in the Spec position of a spelt head. We also prove that there is a lower FocP within IP in Shanghainese. The FocP in CP and that in IP, however, allows of no co-occurrence. Finally, the left periphery in Shanghainese is described as: (Foc) Top (Foc) Int (Foc) … We find that up to three topics may be allowed in this dedicated position in Shanghainese.

中文翻译：

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上海话的话题和左边缘

本文旨在通过话题的位置来呈现上海话左边缘的新图景。我们发现，与“major-vs.-sub-vs.-sub-sub-topic”的区别相反，上海人的所有TopP都在IP之外。前置副词的唯一着陆点是 Spec-TopP（而不是独立的 Mod(ifier)P）。Int(errogative)P 的生成总是低于 TopP。NP 主题和 AdvP 主题的区别在于，前者可以同时使用拼写（带词汇主题标记）和无声（带逗号语调）的主题，而后者只能落在拼写主题的 Spec 位置。我们还证明了上海话 IP 中的 FocP 较低。然而，CP 中的 FocP 和 IP 中的 FocP 不允许同时出现。最后，上海话的左边缘是这样描述的：