Logophoricity, Perspective, and Reflexives

Abstract

The notion of logophoricity is used to characterize linguistic elements sensitive to perspective. The goal of this review is to examine this notion by focusing on the behavior of so-called exempt anaphors. It has long been observed that anaphors can be exempt from Condition A of Binding Theory under perspectival conditions. The distribution of exempt anaphors can thus be examined to identify what perspectival properties are grammatically relevant and thereby specify the definition of logophoricity. In this article, I first review various proposals about this issue; in particular, the grammatical relevance of perspective for exempt anaphors has been explored in comparison with so-called logophoric pronouns as well as in the context of literary and philosophical studies. Second, after providing tools for exploring the perspectival properties of exempt anaphors crosslinguistically, I present my own hypothesis explaining why anaphors can superficially be exempt from Condition A under logophoric conditions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 7 is January 14, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Chinese complex reflexive <em>ta-ziji</em> as an exempt anaphor

“…AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION. In this study, we link logophoricity to perspective-taking or empathy, following prior theoretical work on perspective-sensitive reflexives (e.g., Sells 1987;Cole et al 2001;Huang & Liu 2001;Oshima 2006Oshima , 2007Kim & Yoon 2009;Nishigauchi 2014;Charnavel et al 2017;Charnavel 2020Charnavel , 2021. However, the experimental results from the cur-rent study can have an alternative explanation without assuming this link.…”

“…Interestingly, some reflexives in human languages seem to be perspective-sensitive as well (see Charnavel 2021 for an overview). Due to the correlation between the notions of perspective and logophoricity, reflexives referring to perspective centers are often called logophoric reflexives.…”