Bezugsnomens

Bezugsnomens is a term used in linguistics to designate the noun that provides the referential anchor for an anaphoric expression within a discourse. The Bezugsnomen establishes the referent to which a pronoun, demonstrative, or relative clause refers. The concept is employed in syntax and discourse analysis to describe how referents are introduced, tracked, and retrieved across sentences.

In German grammar, the Bezugsnomen often serves as the antecedent for pronouns and other referring elements. For example: "Die Lehrerin hat den Schüler gesehen. Sie lächelte." Here the Bezugsnomen is "Die Lehrerin" and the pronoun "Sie" refers back to it. In a relative clause, as in "Der Mann, der dort steht, ist mein Nachbar," the Bezugsnomen is "Der Mann," which anchors the relative pronoun "der" and the clause it introduces.

Cross-linguistic note: the notion corresponds to the concept of an antecedent in many languages, though terminology and exact criteria for what counts as a Bezugsnomen can vary by theory. Some languages allow omissions or zero antecedents in certain contexts, which affects how Bezugsnomens are identified and analyzed. The status of a potential Bezugsnomen can also be influenced by discourse prominence, salience, and syntactic position.

See also: antecedent, anaphora, pronoun, relative clause, referential expression.