Australian Journal of Linguistics

Vol. 21, no. 1 (2001)

(Special issue on Anaphora)

Articles

Editors' preface	Peter K. Austin & Lesley Stirling	5-6
The multifunctionality of anaphoric expressions: a typological perspective	Lesley Stirling	7-23
Reference and recovery in Cirebon Javanese	Michael C. Ewing	25-47
Indonesian 'locative' pronouns: deictic or anaphoric?	Dwi Noverini Djenar	49-71
From a to the	Keith Allan	73-82
Zero arguments in Jiwarli, Western Australia	Peter K. Austin	83-98
Argument structure as another reference-tracking system with reference to ellipsis	Shigeko Nariyama	99-129
Logophoric marking and represented speech in African languages as evidential hedging strategies	Gerrit J. Dimmendaal	131-157
The distribution of reflexive pronouns in Norwegian	Tania Strahan	159-169

Abstracts

The multifunctionality of anaphoric expressions: A typological perspective

Lesley Stirling

Abstract: This paper begins by surveying data from discourse analytic and psycholinguistic studies of a wide range of languages which offer support for the hypothesis that anaphoric expressions may function to indicate discourse boundaries in addition to having a reference tracking role. Thus the structure of the discourse is inherently important in considering the functioning of anaphoric systems. Fox's principle of morphosyntactic markedness is invoked to account for this aspect of the multifunctionality of anaphoric expressions. The paper then extends the argument to show that non-nominal reference tracking systems may also obey this principle, on the basis of the examination of cross-linguistic data from switch-reference systems which indicates that so-called 'Different Subject' markers often function to indicate a break in the discourse rather than simply a change in subject referent. The paper concludes by raising some issues for further consideration.

Reference and recovery in Cirebon Javanese

Michael C. Ewing

Abstract: This paper discusses referential forms in Cirebon Javanese conversation, including full lexical nominals and their information flow marking, personal and demonstrative pronouns, and unexpressed arguments. Less explicit forms are generally used for more accessible referents, as expected from crosslinguistic studies. Unlike Standard Central Javanese and other Western Austronesian languages, Cirebon Javanese has a fairly attenuated and generalized system of bound pronominal forms. Referents can be introduced and tracked with unexpressed arguments; these are the most common means of tracking referents through conversational interaction. Information flow pragmatics are important in the process of recovering the referents of unexpressed arguments: highly accessible referents are the ones that are most commonly unexpressed, creating chains which link items into discourse units. Overt syntactic linking through chains of unexpressed subjects is not found and information beyond the pragmatic and grammatical is needed for referent recovery, including semantic, interpersonal and cultural knowledge.

Indonesian 'locative' pronouns: Deictic or anaphoric?

Dwi Noverini Djenar

Abstract: Indonesian distinguishes between three locative pronouns: sini 'here', situ 'there', and sana 'over there'. It has been argued that among these three pronouns, only sana can be used anaphorically. The middle category situ, although it cannot be used as an anaphor, has been argued to be the most neutral pronoun, in the sense that it has a wider distribution as a deictic: it can, for example, substitute for either of the other two pronouns where the reverse is not always plausible. Given the wide applicability of situ, this paper questions the basis for excluding this pronoun as an anaphor. It is demonstrated that the exclusion may be attributed to the way locative pronouns are categorized, how they relate to personal pronouns, and also how deixis and anaphora are defined. It is argued that all of the three locative pronouns can have deictic and anaphoric functions and that both functions can be simultaneously present in some contexts. In deictic use, the choice of one pronoun or the other is determined by the spatial location of the referent relative to the speech participants. Anaphoric use, on the other hand, can be seen to reflect such things as psychological proximity to or distance from the referent in question, and the positioning of the referent in relation to other referents in discourse.

From a to the

Keith Allan

Abstract: This paper presents an account of the semantic relationship between an indefinite NP and its coreferential definite successor in sentences such as Harry bought some strawberries, and they were mushy and Tom caught a rabbit, killed it, skinned it, and cooked it. Section 1 introduces a semantics for quantifiers. There are two weaknesses in accounts of quantification and countability such as are presented in, e.g. Link (1983), Lasersohn (1995), Landman (1989, 1996), Lønning (1997), and Chierchia (1998): one is a lack of consistent correlation between the semantics and the morphosyntax of the constructions under consideration; another is the lack of attention to the fact that countability is a characteristic of NPs rather than nouns. The semantics for quantifiers used in this paper is one developed in Allan (1999, 2001) specifically to counter these deficiencies. It uses a variant of Bunt's (1985) ensemble theory, and gives a semantics for the articles a(n) and the that treats them as generalized quantifiers. Section 2 describes and defines the definite and indefinite articles. Personal pronouns are presumed to contain the semantics of the default definite, the. Section 3 demonstrates quantifier scope within the semantics presented here. Section 4 discusses the interpretation of definites and indefinites in the scope of a universal quantifier. Section 5 tackles the semantic relationship between an indefinite NP and its coreferential definite successor in sentences such as Harry bought some strawberries, and they were mushy. The conclusion is that for any restrictor F and clause predicates G and H, [Qindef x: Fx](Gx [the y: y =x](Hy)). Section 6 demonstrates the incremental interpretation in sentences such as Tom caught a rabbit, killed it, skinned it, and cooked it. Section 7 lists the key points made in the paper.

Zero arguments in Jiwarli, Western Australia

Peter K. Austin

Abstract: Jiwarli is an Australian Aboriginal language that was formerly spoken in the north-west of Western Australia. It shows a high degree of (suffixing) morphological complexity, has a split-ergative case-marking system, and a switch-reference system in dependent clause linkage. Verbs are also strictly subcategorized for transitivity and there are interactions between clause type and case marking. A prevalent feature of Jiwarli discourse is the non-occurrence of overt arguments in both main and dependent clauses. In narratives, 65-75% of transitive clauses have at least one missing argument (depending on genre), with 20% consisting of just a verb alone. Also, 25% of intransitive clauses lack their single (intransitive subject) argument. Zero arguments in Jiwarli can have either unspecified reference or else be anaphoric. This paper discusses the occurrence of zero arguments and outlines the means by which anaphoric relations are expressed. I will show that there is an interaction between verb transitivity, clause type, switch-reference, and the case-marking system which assists with reference determination in narrative discourse.

Argument structure as another reference-tracking system with reference to ellipsis

Shigeko Nariyama

Abstract: Foley and Van Valin (1984) present a typology of reference-tracking systems and classify them into four basic types: switch-function, switch-reference, noun class, and pragmatic inference. They believe that languages such as Japanese, which heavily utilize ellipsis, lack the first three systems, and that assignment of coreference is not directly signalled in the linguistic form. I argue against this statement by showing that Japanese in fact utilizes all four systems. Furthermore, it utilizes argument structure as another reference-tracking system; person/animacy and discourse salience of arguments induce a particular argument structure, which signals the referential identity of ellipted arguments. I refer to other languages as further evidence for suggesting argument structure as another system for reference tracking.

Logophoric marking and represented speech in African languages as evidential hedging strategies

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Abstract: Logophoric markers are common in two African language families, Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. In addition, they are found in neighbouring Afroasiatic languages. Similar markers have been observed, for example, for Indo-European languages or Japanese. In contrast with a widespread view, I claim that the status of logophoric markers in these African languages differs from that in the latter languages in a number of respects. This, I argue, has important consequences for the way in which logophoricity operates in these languages.

The distribution of reflexive pronouns in Norwegian

Tania Strahan

Abstract: This paper reports on the findings of a pilot study to investigate Long Distance Reflexives (LDR) in Norwegian. It begins with an introduction to the main features of Norwegian LDR, then examines data from several Norwegian dialects, showing that both the perspective model of LDR and the Logocentric Hierarchy is relevant to LDR in Norwegian. The final section presents some more data which highlight semantic differences between Norwegian anaphors which do not obey the Complementarity Principle.

Last update: 31 May 2001
Comments to Tim Curnow