Speaker: Mikael Vinka (Umeå) Title: Japanese Long Distance Reflexive 'zibun', West African Logophoric pronouns and the South Saami pronoun 'satne': Similar but not the same

If you want to attend the talk via Zoom, please register in advance for this meeting:

https://lu-se.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5cqcO6uqTksE9AL7aZTvPf8RONS_-ZR6WEg 

 

---

Abstract

In this talk I will be concerned with so-called long distance binding of the Japanese reflexive 'zibun'. LD binding of 'zibun' has been studied in depth over the years, perhaps most prominently by Susumu Kuno. The syntactic distribution of LD 'zibun' and that of West African logophoric pronouns intersect in interesting ways. However, closer scrutiny has revealed that distributional patterns diverge in whether or not the relevant element is contained in a complement clause or not. Unlike West African logophoric pronouns, 'zibun' is licit in adjunct clauses, provided that conditions on Point-of-View or perspective, such Awareness and/or Empathy are satisfied. The South Saami long distance pronoun is subject to specific aspects of Point-of-View. Interestingly, in standard discourse, the distribution of the pronoun closely matches West African logophoric pronouns; however, in contexts of free indirect discourse, a 'zibun'-style pattern emerges. I will discuss some overall conclusions that can be drawn from the cross-linguistic mix of distributional similarities and differences, as well as raise some question.