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Glite Dictionary
anaphoric pronoun

anaphoric pronoun

8.7
A pronoun that refers to a word or name mentioned earlier in the text
  • noun
  • /ˌænəˈfɔːrɪk ˈproʊnaʊn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : pronombre anafórico
  • In the sentence 'Lisa said she would join us later,' the word she is an anaphoric pronoun that refers back to Lisa.

Examples

  • The children with LI used significantly fewer correct anaphoric pronouns (those linking back to previous words in the discourse) compared to their TD peers.

    Academic text (2012)

  • When writing, using an anaphoric pronoun like they in 'The students are studying; they want to ace the exam' clarifies the subject.

  • An anaphoric pronoun helps avoid repetition; for example, in 'John loves basketball and it makes him happy,' it refers to basketball.

Synonyms

anaphor
vsanaphoric pronoun
  • Specialized
9.3

A word that refers back to a word said earlier, like 'she' or 'his'

is limited to words that stand for earlier nouns rather than whole phrases

Surface Forms

anaphoric pronoun singular
anaphoric pronouns plural

Morphology

anaphoric + pronoun

The compound is fully compositional: 'anaphoric' means 'referring back' and 'pronoun' is a word that replaces a noun, so a learner who knows both parts can directly infer 'a pronoun that refers back to something earlier.' The concept has clear cross-linguistic parallels (many languages mark pronouns that refer back), so the meaning is predictable rather than idiomatic.

Etymology

Anaphoric pronoun creates a simple image: a small word, a pronoun, that looks back to a name or noun mentioned earlier, like 'her' looking at 'Sarah' in the sentence. So it 'refers back' to that earlier word to show who or what we mean.