A Denotational Analysis of Anaphora in Attitude Contexts

Abstract

Language and Information 8.2 , 47–72. In general, it is assumed that a pronoun refers to the same individual as the referent of its antecedent. However, when a pronoun and its antecedent are in different information or belief states, the two may not refer to the same individual. Then a question arises what a pronoun refers to. In this paper, two cases are considered. When a pronoun occurs in an attitude context, one case is where its antecedent occurs in a belief context, and the other is where the antecedent occurs in the main context. I propose that a pronoun refers to an individual concept which links two different subjects in two different contexts, and that the selection of a proper individual concept is restricted by the discourse. So a pronoun can be used felicitously only when there is a unique individual concept supported by the individual concept introduced by the discourse and which can link two subjects in two different contexts.