Sep 2026· International Review of Pragmatics· Vol 18, pp. 249-276· 0 citations· 38 references
Abstract
This article discusses emergent empirical data about the Mandarin Chinese collective suffix ‑men, in that it is able to mark a zero anaphor. This is a marked zero pronoun, a covert element (a zero anaphor) marked by an overt element (‑men). The licensing of this anaphoric element has yet to be captured, which is approached using the revised neo-Gricean pragmatic theory of anaphora, as Chinese anaphoric system is pragmatically regulated. The synchronic evidence is carefully reviewed obtained from a variety of genres, and cross-linguistic evidence is brought to the fore from the Korean stranded plural suffix ‑tul, and case stranding in Japanese, suggesting a wider distribution across discourse pro-drop languages. The focus then shifts to how to account for this theoretically by comparing a linguistic pragmatic approach to a syntactic approach, arguing that pragmatics utilizing topic-chains straightforwardly accounts for this new type of zero anaphor.
From old English to modern English, the gender category has shifted from a grammatical system to a natural one, with only pronouns retaining gender marking. He and they used as epicene pronouns represent a common phenomenon of gender disagreement. This study examines epicene pronoun usage with anaphors restricted to po...
Qiong-Fei Hu· Trends in Social Sciences an...· 0 citations
This paper examines a little-known composite second-person plural pronoun that has received no systematic
attention in the historical-linguistic literature to date:
among(st)-you
. Drawing on a broad range of textual
sources, we first map the geographical distribution of this pronoun across the anglophone world...
Bart Jacobs, S. Goyette, Mikael Parkvall· English World-Wide. A Journa...· 0 citations
This paper argues that the overt shì in Mandarin pair-list answers functions as a discourse-anaphoric pairing predicate rather than a standard copula, or a focus marker. The relevant mapping is not created by overt shì itself, but is established by the Question under Discussion (QUD) structure, introduced explicitly by...
Jo-Wang Lin, Yen-Hui Li· Journal of East Asian lingui...· 0 citations
Pragmatics is of great importance in the study of linguistics, especially when it comes to interpreting language within a specific context. This article looks at reflexive anaphora in English from a pragmatic and discourse point of view, focusing on the way in which context helps in determining the antecedent of a refl...
Elmira Huseynova, Shalala Mammadli· EuroGlobal Journal of Lingui...· 0 citations
The Japanese adverb chotto is commonly introduced as a scalar expression meaning ‘a little’, ‘slightly’, or ‘for a short while’. In actual use, however, it also performs a range of pragmatic functions. Speakers may use it to attract attention, maintain a conversational turn, reduce the directness of a request, signal h...
N. Anh, N. Anh· INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOC...· 0 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
