The phenomenon of verb-fronting remains poorly understood. Several types of verb-fronting have been identified in creole languages, but basic questions remain: do creoles exhibit verb-fronting as a result of substrate influence, or does it arise independently? In what sense does verb-fronting exist in Mauritian Creole? And what does it mean to topicalize a verb?

A comparison of Cantonese and Mauritian Creole demonstrates remarkably similar properties with respect to verb fronting. In both languages, fronting of the verb to sentence-initial position leaves a copy in situ:

(1) tai2 zau6 ho2ji5 tai2, maai5 zau6 m4hou2 maai5 laak3 (Cantonese)
    look  then  can  look   buy  then   don't   buy    PRT
   'You can take a look, but don't buy (it).'

(2) galupe li ti   pe   galupe,   me zot    ti     resi     trap   li (Mauritian Creole)
    run he PAST PROG run but they PAST manage catch him
   'Although he was running like hell, they were able to catch him.'

The structure is associated in both languages with the functions of concession (as seen in (1-2)) and of emphasis, which may take the form of either topicalization or focusing. The comparison adds to the typological properties shared by creoles and the Sinitic languages and demonstrates that verb-fronting is not specific to creole grammars, adding to the evidence that creoles do not constitute a unique structural type. A preliminary typology of verb-fronting is outlined, including verb topicalization, verb focusing and predicate clefting.