7 - Pronouns and Ellipsis

Summary

Chapter 7 of Discourse Syntax (Pronouns and Ellipsis) deals with pronouns and ellipsis as another area of grammatical cohesion and of the grammar of discourse. It introduces reference and coreference and the different classes of pronouns. The discussion is based on the distinction between endophoric and exophoric reference, co-referential ties and chains of reference as well as the interpretation of pronouns as expressing extended reference. The chapter also discusses principles of pronoun interpretation and the concept of givenness from a psycholinguistic viewpoint. Givenness is explained with reference to the concepts of accessibility and recoverability, which are also shown to be relevant as conditions of elliptical reference and, in particular, the use of subject ellipsis in discourse. The chapter presents corpus data about the use of pronouns and ellipsis in texts and corresponding patterns of text-linguistic variation, such as interactive and oral language use as well as usage in types of written language (literary and electronic discourse, informal writing).