ABSTRACT
The object of this chapter is the presentation and the discussion of different approaches to the notion of topic. From more traditional approaches such as text linguistics, discourse analysis, and functionalism, the author presents a review of the literature and summarizes at different points the main feature of topic in relation to the approaches discussed. The central part of the chapter deals with the approach of conversation analysis, which is fundamental to the present study. It presents how conversation analytical work has dealt with the concept of topic, suggesting a new way of looking at what happens in real-life conversations.
