Blocking and anaphora

Abstract

Deletion and destressing are shown to obey principal laws of anaphora, and rules are formulated for identifying these and other nonintrinsic anaphors. A rule is formulated (the Disanaphora Law) for relating such anaphors to their antecedents; the application of the rule is governed by the Blocking Principle. Focus-presupposition structure is analyzed purely in terms of anaphora. Topic is defined as a Focus subordinated to the main Focus. The existence of coordinate ellipsis rules is demonstrated, and the coherence and patterns of obligatoriness of ellipsis are explicated in terms of the Disanaphora Law. LF and PF applications of the anaphora laws suggest that LF = PF