supertopic

English

Etymology

super- +‎ topic

Noun

supertopic (plural supertopics)

1. A topic that encompasses several other topics.
   • 1998, Andreas H. Jucker, Yael Ziv, Discourse Markers: Descriptions and Theory, page 46:

     On the other hand, shifts in contextual constraints are even greater at first-level boundaries, at the beginning of a story (in narration) or a supertopic (in elicitation).

   • 2008, Deborah Schiffrin, Deborah Tannen, Heidi E. Hamilton, The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, page 676:

     That choice would leave the supertopic Classroom Experiences open, a situation that can be represented with an open parenthesis.

   • 2013, Jan McAllister, James E. Miller, Introductory Linguistics for Speech and Language Therapy, page 239:

     There is an overarching topic, sometimes called a supertopic, and the interlocutors move through a series of subtopics related to the supertopic, slipping easily from one subtopic to the next.

Related terms

• subtopic