English

Noun

anaphor ‎(plural anaphors or anaphora)

1. (linguistics) An expression referring to another expression. In stricter uses, an expression referring to something earlier in the discourse or, even more strictly, only reflexive and reciprocal pronouns.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 117:

     Thus far, we have established that each other is an NP which functions as a
     reciprocal anaphor requiring to take its reference from some antecedent else-
     where in the sentence, and that themselves is an NP which functions as a re-
     flexive anaphor which also requires an antecedent to take its reference from.

Hypernyms

• (linguistics): endophor

Antonyms

• (linguistics): logophor, cataphor

Related terms

• anaphora

Translations

See also

• deixis