Anaforze

Anaforze is a linguistic term used to describe expressions whose interpretation depends on a preceding element, known as the antecedent, within the same sentence or broader discourse. In this sense, the meaning of an anaform is determined by its relationship to that antecedent. The term covers a range of forms, including reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, and certain non-pronominal expressions that refer back to earlier entities.

Common examples include reflexive pronouns such as himself, herself, and themselves (as in John blamed himself), and reciprocal expressions such as each other (as in John and Mary praised each other). Non-reflexive anaphors include phrases like the same, the former, or the latter, which point back to previously mentioned items.

Theoretical framework and locality play a central role in analysing anaform references. In many linguistic theories, reflexives must be bound within their local domain (often associated with a Principle A in binding theory), while pronouns must be free in that domain (often associated with Principle B). The exact constraints can vary across languages, but the general idea is that the antecedent must satisfy locality conditions for the anaform to be interpretable.

Cross-linguistic variation is common: some languages feature rich morphosyntactic marking of anaphors, others rely on word order or discourse context. Some languages also use logophoric pronouns to refer to the individual whose speech is being reported.

In natural language processing, resolving anaforms—linking them to their antecedents—is a core task for maintaining coherence in text processing and generation.