Logophoricity

Logophorizität is in linguistics the name given to the phenomenon that the terms of personnel and reflexive (and possibly other parts of speech), may depend, is described a situation from whose perspective. Above all, the term refers to the fact that the perspective center can be shifted in a sentence or text so that the speaker's perspective is no longer relevant. The relation of a logophoric pronoun is then rather the person whose utterances, thoughts or perceptions are reported.

If a language has logophoric pronouns, it can e.g. B. express a contrast, whether in indirect speech a pronoun of the third person refers back to the author of the reported utterance, or to another person. Instead of having their own logophoric pronouns, some languages ​​also show logophoric uses of reflexive pronouns that do not follow the otherwise applicable grammatical rules for reflexives, in that they do not have a reference word within the same sentence.

Example of a logophoric personal pronoun

Stand-alone logophoric pronouns that contrast with normal personal pronouns, for example, exist in a number of African languages. In Donno So, a language from the Dogon family , the following contrast can be seen:

• Logophoric pronoun (LOG) in indirect speech:

Oumar Anta inyemɛn waa     be  gi
Omar  Anta LOG-acc gesehen hat sagte
„Omar sagte, dass Anta ihn (=Omar) gesehen hat.“

• Normal personal pronoun in indirect speech:

Oumar Anta won         waa     be  gi
Omar  Anta PRON3sg-acc gesehen hat sagte
„Omar sagte, dass Anta ihn (=jemand ganz anderen) gesehen hat“

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The example contrast above is similar to the examples that characterize the obviative category in some languages. The obviative, however, is only concerned with whether or not a third-person pronoun is referenced to the aforementioned pronoun. Logophoreic pronouns are instead about the content factor on whose point of view the entire text is centered. Logophoric pronouns differ from an obviative system in that they are typically associated with the phenomenon of indirect speech; furthermore, the existence of another pronoun of the third person or the distance to the reference word does not matter.

Reflexive pronouns as logophoric pronouns

An example of a language with logophoreic use of reflexive pronouns is Icelandic . The reflexive pronoun sig in the third sentence of the following text is completely free; In German it would have to be translated with a personal pronoun, but in Icelandic it has the reflexive form because it refers back to the person whose perspective is reproduced from the second sentence of the text - from here on, the subjunctive also appears, which marks indirect speech (reported however, the thoughts of the named person):

• Context:

Formaðurinn     varð  óskaplega reiður.     Tillagan     væri      avívirðileg.
Der Vorsitzende wurde wütend (,) ärgerlich. Der Vorschlag war(Konj.) unerhört.

• Continuation (logophoric): The reflexive sér relates to Formaðurinn / Chairman!

Væri       henni beint   gegn   sér        persónulega? 
War(Konj.) er   gezielt gegen sich(dat.)  persönlich?

The same phenomenon can be found in uses of the reflexive that are in a subordinate clause and, unlike normal reflexiva, have a reference word far outside this subordinate clause:

Haraldur segir að   Jón  komi  ekki   nema  Maria kyssi sig.
Harald   sagt, dass Hans kommt nicht, außer Maria küsst „sich“
'Harald sagt, dass Hans nicht kommt, es sei denn Maria küsst ihn(=Harald).'

The pronoun sig as an object of “kissing” can usefully not be a normal reflexive with reference to Maria . A reference word outside the same subordinate clause can only have a reflexive when used logophorically, in which case only Harald can be used as a reference word , since he is the subject of the verb saying ; this verb causes a shift in perspective here. A reference to Jón / Hans is grammatically impossible, although Jón is closer to the reflexive; however, it does not form a “logophoric center”; H. not a subject of an utterance or perception.

Spatial perspective

A related phenomenon that also exists in German is the shift in spatial perspective in reports about the perceptions of other people. Here, too, in German (which has no logophoric reflexiva in the narrower sense) the effect arises that the shifted perspective is identified by a reflexive:

a. Man sieht eine Frau, die auf ein Bild hinter ihr schaut.
(mögliche Deutung: Das Bild ist vom Sprecher des Satzes aus gesehen weiter im Hintergrund)

b. Man sieht eine Frau, die auf ein Bild hinter sich schaut.
(Deutung: Das Bild ist von der Frau aus gesehen in ihrem Rücken)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christopher Culy: The logophoric hierarchy and variation in Dogon . In: Tom Güldemann, Manfred von Roncador (eds.): Reported Discourse: A meeting ground for different linguistic domains. John Benjamin, Amsterdam 2002. pp. 201-210. (cited example p. 201)
2. ↑ Example from: Peter Sells: Aspects of logophoricity. In Linguistic Inquiry , 18 (1987). Pp. 445-479
3. ↑ Example from: Höskuldur Thráinsson: Reflexives and Subjunctives in Icelandic. Proceedings of NELS 6, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 1976. pp. 225-239
4. ^ Translated into German based on an example in: S. Sundaresan, H. Pearson: Formalizing linguistic perspective: insights from spatial anaphora. , Ms., 2014 via Lingbuzz