Logophoricity

Logophoricity is the binding relation that holds between a special class of pronouns and their antecedents. Logophoric elements, which occur in embedded clauses introduced by verbs of saying, thinking or feeling, must be bound by the antecedent whose speech, thoughts, or feelings are being reported (Clements 1975, p. 241). The phenomenon was first observed in African languages that have a distinct set of logophoric pronouns that are morphologically differentiated from regular pronouns. Logophoricity is also attested with logophoric reflexives, which are non-clause-bounded reflexive pronouns such as is found in Japanese (Kuno 1972, 1987) and Icelandic (Maling 1984).