Logophoricity

Eric Reuland

Eric Reuland

Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, the Netherlands

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First published: 24 November 2017
Citations: 1

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the main issues in current discussion of logophoricity. Logophoric pronouns and free anaphors with logophoric interpretation give rise to the following questions: (i) How can logophoric interpretation be characterized? (ii) How can free anaphors escape the locality conditions on anaphor binding? (iii) Is long-distance anaphora a unified phenomenon? (iv) How can free anaphors be interpreted as logophors, although prima facie they have no specific feature composition to impose a logophoric interpretation? (v) What are the principles governing the cross-linguistic variation observed? In answer to question (i), it is argued that logophoric interpretation expresses event orientation; more specifically, logophors can be viewed as non-D-linked first-person pronouns. In answer to question (ii), it is argued that free anaphors can escape the locality conditions on anaphor binding, since there is no absolute binding requirement on anaphors. Question (iii), of whether long-distance anaphora is a unified phenomenon, is discussed in two other chapters. The answer is negative for reasons set out there. Although free anaphors appear to have no specific lexical properties imposing a logophoric interpretation, they can nevertheless be interpreted logophorically – which answers question (iv). Due to their poverty of grammatical features, they reflect the unmarked properties of personal pronouns, that is, they express orientation. Quite plausibly it is the grammatical number feature that enables fully specified pronouns to bypass expressing orientation. As for question (v), cross-linguistic variation in free anaphors is essentially due to the interaction of grammatical features with independent properties of grammatical structure, including patterns of variation in accessing the left periphery. In the end, the logophoric use of pronouns is just a reflection of basic properties of the pronominal system in its relation to independent properties of the structure the pronoun is embedded in.

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