Inlinguistics,anaphora(/nfr/) is the use of an expression the interpretation of which depends upon another expression in context (itsantecedentor postcedent). In the sentenceSally arrived, but nobody saw her, the pronounheris anaphoric, referring back toSally. The termanaphoradenotes the act of referring, whereas the word that actually does the referring is sometimes called ananaphor(orcataphor). Usually, an anaphoric expression is aproformor some other kind ofdeicticexpression.[1]Anaphora is an important concept for different reasons and on different levels: first, anaphora indicates howdiscourseis constructed and maintained; second, anaphora binds differentsyntacticalelements together at the level of the sentence; third, anaphora presents a challenge tonatural language processingincomputational linguistics, since the identification of the reference can be difficult; and fourth, anaphora tells some things about how language is understood and processed, which is relevant to fields of linguistics interested incognitive psychology.[2]

Contents[hide]1Nomenclature and examples

2The "anaphor" in generative grammar: a source of confusion

3Complement anaphora

4See also

5Notes

6Literature

7External links

Nomenclature and examples[edit]The termanaphorais actually used in two ways. In a broad sense, it denotes the act of referring. Any time a given expression (e.g. a proform) refers to another contextual entity, anaphora is present. In a second, narrower sense, the termanaphoradenotes the act of referring to the left, that is, the anaphor points to its left toward its antecedent (in languages that are written from left to right). In this narrow sense, anaphora stands in contrast tocataphora, which sees the act of referring pointing to the right. A proform is a cataphor when it points to its right toward its postcedent. Both effects together are calledendophora. In the broad sense, the termanaphoraincludes all of these referential effects.[3]Examples of anaphora and cataphora (in the narrow sense) are given next. Anaphors and cataphors appear in bold, and their antecedents and postcedents are underlined:Anaphora(endophora)a. Susan droppedthe plate.Itshattered loudly.- The pronounitis an anaphor; it points to the left toward its antecedentthe plate.b.The music stopped, andthatupset everyone.- The demonstrative pronounthatis an anaphor; it points to the left toward its antecedentThe music stopped.c. Fred wasangry, andsowas I.- The adverbsois an anaphor; it points to the left toward its antecedentangry.d. If Sambuys a new bike, I willdo itas well.- The verb phrasedo itis anaphor; it points to the left toward its antecedentbuys a new bike.Cataphora(endophora)a. Becausehewas very cold,Davidput on his coat.- The pronounheis a cataphor; it points to the right toward its postcedentDavid.b.Hisfriends have been criticizingJimfor exaggerating.- The possessive adjectivehisis a cataphor; it points to the right toward its postcedentJim.c. Although Sam mightdo so, I will notbuy a new bike.- The verb phrasedo sois a cataphor; it points to the right toward its postcedentbuy a new bike.d. Intheirfree time,the kidsplay video games.- The possessive adjectivetheiris a cataphor; it points to the right toward its postcedentthe kids.A further distinction is sometimes drawn. One distinguishes between endophoric andexophoric reference. Exophoric reference occurs when an expression, an exophor, refers to something that is not directly present in the linguistic context, but is rather present in the situational context. Deictic proforms are stereotypical exophors, e.g.Exophoraa.Thisgarden hose is better thanthatone.- The demonstrative adjectivesthisandthatare exophors; they point to entities in the situational context.b. Jerry is standing overthere.- The adverbthereis an exophor; it points to a location in the situational context.Finally, one can also acknowledgehomophoric reference. Homophoric reference occurs when a generic phrase obtains a specific meaning through knowledge of its context. For example, the referent of the phrasethe Queenmust be determined by the context of the utterance, which would identify the identity of the queen in question. In discussing 'The Mayor' (of a city), the Mayor's identity must be understood broadly through the context which the speech references as general 'object' of understanding.The "anaphor" in generative grammar: a source of confusion[edit]The termanaphoris used in a special way ingenerative grammar. It denotes a reflexive or reciprocal pronoun in English and analogous forms in other languages. The use of the termanaphorin this narrow sense is unique to generative grammar, and in particular, to the traditionalbindingtheory.[4]This theory investigates the syntactic relationship that can or must hold between a given proform and its antecedent (or postcedent). Anaphors (reflexive and reciprocal pronouns) behave very differently from, for instance, personal pronouns.[5]Due to the prominence of the traditional binding theory in the study of syntax, this specialized meaning has been a source of confusion about exactly what an anaphor is supposed to be.Complement anaphora[edit]This sectionpossibly containsoriginal research.Pleaseimprove itbyverifyingthe claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(November 2014)

In some special cases, anaphora may refer not to its usual antecedent, but to itscomplementset. This phenomenon was first studied in a series of psycholinguistic experiments in the early 1990s.[6]In the following example a, the anaphoric pronountheyrefers to the children who are eating the ice-cream. Contrastingly, example b hastheyseeming to refer to the children who are not eating ice-cream:a. Only afew of the childrenate their ice-cream.Theyate the strawberry flavor first.b. Only afew of the childrenate their ice-cream.Theythrew it around the room instead.That examples like the second one here (example b) exist seems odd.[according to whom?]By definition, an anaphoric pronoun must refer to some noun (phrase) that has already been introduced into the discourse. In complement anaphora cases, however, it is difficult to explain how the anaphor can refer to something that is, from a technical standpoint, not present, since the referent of the pronoun has not been formerly introduced. The set of ice-cream-eating-children in example b is introduced into the discourse, but then the pronountheyrefers to the set of non-ice-cream-eating-children, a set which has not been properly mentioned.Several accounts of this phenomenon are found in the literature, based on both semantic and pragmatic considerations. The most important point of debate is the question of whether the pronoun in sentence b refers to the complement set (i.e. only to the set of non-ice-cream-eating-children) or to the maximal set (i.e. to all the children, while discounting the minority group).[7]The answer to this question may have theoretical consequences regarding the kind of information the brain is able to access or calculate, and also pragmatic consequences regarding the way a theory of anaphora resolution should be constructed.

Inlinguistics,coreference(sometimes writtenco-reference) occurs when two or more expressions in a text refer to the same person or thing; they have the samereferent, e.g.Billsaid he would come; the proper nounBilland the pronounherefer to the same person, namely to Bill.[1]Coreference is the main concept underlyingbindingphenomena in the field of syntax. The theory of binding explores the syntactic relationship that exists between coreferential expressions in sentences and texts. When two expressions are coreferential, the one is usually a full form (theantecedent) and the other is an abbreviated form (aproformor anaphor). Linguists use indices to show coreference, as with the i index in the exampleBillisaid heiwould come. The two expressions with the same reference arecoindexed, hence in this exampleBillandheare coindexed, indicating that they should be interpreted as coreferential.

Contents[hide]1Types of coreference

2Coreference versus bound variables

3Coreference resolution

4See also

5Notes

6References

Types of coreference[edit]When exploring coreference, there are numerous distinctions that can be made, e.g.anaphora,cataphora, split antecedents, coreferring noun phrases, etc.[2]When dealing with proforms (pronouns, pro-verbs, pro-adjectives, etc.), one distinguishes between anaphora and cataphora. When the proform follows the expression to which it refers, anaphora is present (the proform is an anaphor), and when it precedes the expression to which it refers, cataphora is present (the proform is a cataphor). These notions all illustrated as follows:Anaphoraa.The musiciwas so loud thatiticouldn't be enjoyed.- The anaphoritfollows the expression to which it refers (its antecedent).b.Our neighborsidislike the music. Iftheyiare angry, the cops will show up soon.- The anaphortheyfollows the expression to which it refers (its antecedent).Cataphoraa. Iftheyiare angry about the music,the neighborsiwill call the cops.- The cataphortheyprecedes the expression to which it refers (its postcedent).b. Despiteheridifficulty,Wilmaicame to understand the point.- The cataphorherprecedes the expression to which it refers (its postcedent)Split antecedentsa.CarolitoldBobito attend the party.Theyiarrived together.- The anaphortheyhas a split antecedent, referring to bothCarolandBob.b. WhenCarolihelpsBobiandBobihelpsCaroli,theyican accomplish any task.- The anaphortheyhas a split antecedent, referring to bothCarolandBob.Coreferring noun phrasesa.The project leaderiis refusing to help.The jerkithinks only of himself.- Coreferring noun phrases, whereby the second noun phrase is a predication over the first.b.Some of our colleagues1are going to be supportive.These kinds of people1will earn our gratitude.- Coreferring noun phrases, whereby the second noun phrase is a predication over the first.Coreference versus bound variables[edit]Semanticists and logicians sometimes draw a distinction between coreference and what is known as abound variable.[3]An instance of a bound variable can look like coreference, but from a technical standpoint, one can argue that it actually is not. Bound variables occur when the antecedent to the proform is an indefinite quantified expression, e.g.[4]a.Every studentihas receivedhisigrade.- The pronounhisis an example of a bound variableb.No studentiwas upset withhisigrade.- The pronounhisis an example of a bound variableQuantified expressions such asevery studentandno studentare, from a technical standpoint, not referential. The subjectsevery studentandno studentare grammatically singular, but they do not pick out single referents in the discourse world. Thus since the antecedents to the possessive adjectivehisis not referential, one also cannot say thathisis referential. Instead, one says it is avariablethat isboundby its antecedent. Its reference varies based upon which of the students in the discourse world is thought of. If Jack, John, and Jerry are the three students in the discourse world, then the meaning ofhisvaries based upon whether Jack, John, or Jerry is the focus of the minds eye. The existence of bound variables is perhaps more apparent with the following example:c.Only Jackilikeshisigrade.- The pronounhiscan be a bound variable.This sentence is ambiguous. It can mean that Jack likes his grade, but everyone else dislikes Jack's grade, or more likely, it means that Jack likes his grade, but John dislikes his (John's) grade, and Jerry dislikes his (Jerry's) grade. The second, more natural reading is the bound variable reading. While the distinction between coreference and bound variables may be real, coindexation can be construed as accommodating both. That is, when two or more expressions are coindexed, it indicates that one is dealing with coreference or a bound variable.Coreference resolution[edit]Incomputational linguistics, coreference resolution is a well-studied problem indiscourse. To derive the correct interpretation of a text, or even to estimate the relative importance of various mentioned subjects, pronouns and otherreferring expressionsmust be connected to the right individuals. Algorithms intended to resolve coreferences commonly look first for the nearest preceding individual that is compatible with the referring expression. For example,shemight attach to a preceding expression such asthe womanorAnne, but not toBill. Pronouns such ashimselfhave much stricter constraints. Algorithms for resolving coreference tend to have accuracy in the 75% range. As with many linguistic tasks, there is a tradeoff betweenprecision and recall.A classic problem for coreference resolution in English, is the pronounit, which has many uses.Itcan refer much likeheandshe, except that it generally refers to inanimate objects (the rules are actually more complex: animals may be any ofit,he, orshe; ships are traditionallyshe; hurricanes are usuallyitdespite having gendered names).Itcan also refer to abstractions rather than beings: "He was paid minimum wage, but didn't seem to mind it." Finally,italso haspleonasticuses, which do not refer in anything specific:a.It's raining.b.It's really a shame.c.Ittakes a lot of work to succeed.d. Sometimesit's the loudest who have the most influence.Pleonastic uses are not considered referential, and so are not part of coreference.[5]

Inlinguistics,cataphora(/ktfr/; fromGreek,,kataphora, a downward motion from,kata, downwards and,pher, I carry) is used to first insert an expression or word thatco-referswith a later expression in the discourse.[1]An example of strict, sentence-internal cataphora in English is the following sentence:Whenhearrived home,Johnwent to sleep.

In this sentence, the pronounhe(theanaphor) appears earlier than the nounJohn(thepostcedent) that it refers to, the reverse of the normal pattern (anaphora), where areferring expressionsuch asJohnorthe soldierappears before any pronouns that reference it. Both cataphora and anaphora are types ofendophora. As a general rule, cataphora is much less frequent cross-linguistically than anaphora.Examples[edit]Other examples of the same type of cataphora are:If you wantsome, here's someparmesan cheese.

Afterhehad received his orders,the soldierleft the barracks.

If you wantthem, there arecookiesin the kitchen.

Cataphora across sentences is often used for rhetorical effect. It can build suspense and provide a description. For example:He's the biggest slob I know.He's really stupid.He's so cruel.He's my boyfriend Nick.

The examples of cataphora described so far are strict cataphora, because the anaphor is an actualpronoun. Strict within-sentence cataphora is highly restricted in the sorts of structures it can appear within, generally restricted to a preceding subordinate clause. More generally, however, any fairly generalnoun phrasecan be considered an anaphor when itco-referswith a more specific noun phrase (i.e. both refer to the same entity), and if the more general noun phrase comes first, it can be considered an example of cataphora. Non-strict cataphora of this sort can occur in many contexts, for example:Alittle girl,Jessica, was playing on the swings.

('The anaphora little girlco-refers withJessica.)Findingthe right gadgetwas a real hassle. I finally settled with adigital camera.

(The anaphorthe right gadgetco-refers witha digital camera.)Strict cross-sentence cataphora where the antecedent is an entire sentence is fairly common cross-linguistically:I should have knownit:The task is simply too difficult.

Ich htteeswissen mssen:Die Aufgabe ist einfach zu schwer.(Same as previous sentence, in German.)

Cataphora of this sort is particularly common in formal contexts, using an anaphoric expression such asthisorthe following:Thisis what I believe: thatall men were created equal.

After squaring both sides, we arrive atthe following:x = y^3 + 2z - 1.