What is anaphora?
Definition
Anaphora is coreference of one expression with its antecedent. The antecedent
provides the information necessary for the expression’s interpretation.
This is often understood as an expression “referring” back to the antecedent.
Discussion
The term anaphora is also sometimes used to include both anaphora, as
defined here, and cataphora. When it is used that way, it becomes synonymous
with endophora.
Example (English)
In the following sequence, the relationship of the pronoun he to the
noun phrase a well-dressed man is an example of anaphora:
A well-dressed man was speaking; he had a foreign accent.
Cataphora
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In linguistics, cataphora /kəˈtæfərə/ (from Greek, καταφορά, kataphora, “a downward
motion” from 'κατά, kata, “downwards” and φέρω, pherō, “I carry”) is used to first
insert an expression or word is used to describe an expression that co-refers with a
later expression in the discourse.[1] An example of strict, sentence-internal cataphora
in English is the following sentence:
When he arrived home, John went to sleep.
In this sentence, the pronoun he (the anaphor) appears earlier than the noun John (the
antecedent) that it refers to, the reverse of the normal pattern (anaphora), where a
referring expression such as John or the soldier appears before any pronouns that
reference it. Both cataphora and anaphora are types of endophora. As a general rule,
cataphora is much less frequent cross-linguistically than anaphora.
Examples
Other examples of the same type of cataphora are:
If you want some, here's some parmesan cheese.
After he had received his orders, the soldier left the barracks.
If you want them, there are cookies in 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 actual pronoun. 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 general noun phrase can be considered an
anaphor when it co-refers with 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:
A little girl, Jessica, was playing on the swings.
('The anaphor a little girl co-refers with Jessica.)
Finding the right gadget was a real hassle. I finally settled with a
digital camera.
(The anaphor the right gadget co-refers with a digital camera.)
Strict cross-sentence cataphora where the antecedent is an entire sentence is fairly
common cross-linguistically:
I should have known it: The task is simply too difficult.
Ich hätte es wissen müssen: 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 as this or the following:
This is what I believe: that all men were created equal.
After squaring both sides, we arrive at the following:
What is endophora?
Definition
Endophora is coreference of an expression with another expression either
before it or after it. One expression provides the information necessary to
interpret the other.
Discussion
The endophoric relationship is often spoken of as one expression “referring to”
another.
Examples (English)
A well-dressed man was speaking; he had a foreign accent.
If you need one, there’s a towel in the top drawer.
What is zero anaphora?
Definition
Zero anaphora is the use of a gap, in a phrase or clause, that has an anaphoric
function similar to a pro-form.
It is often described as “referring back” to an expression that supplies the
information necessary for interpreting the gap.
Examples (English)
There are two roads to eternity , a straight and narrow, and a broad and
crooked.
In this sentence, the gaps in a straight and narrow [gap], and a broad and
crooked [gap] have a zero anaphoric relationship to two roads to eternity.
