Anaphoric Expressions in Telugu

• Published in: Studies in Linguistics no. 34; pp. 123 - 143
• Main Author: Chang-Yong Sim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 한국중원언어학회 2015
• Subjects: 언어학; anaphoric expressions; 대용어; syntactic conditions; 동사적 재귀 체계; verbal reflexive; verbal reflexive system; 통사적 조건; 동사적 재귀사; reflexivity; nominal reflexive; 명사적 재귀사; 재귀성
• ISSN: 1975-8251; 2508-4259
• DOI: 10.17002/sil..34.201501.123

Telugu, a Dravidian language spoken in Southern India, has three anaphoric expressions. The main purpose of this paper explores anaphoric expressions in Telugu. Telugu employs a verbal reflexive marker, kun, to express reflexivity in addition to complex nominal reflexives such as tana-ni tanu and pronominal reflexives such as tana-n-e. The two forms of reflexives with the verbal reflexive marker must be bound by a local c-commanding antecedent. These constructions show that the syntactic conditions licensing reflexives preempt the verbal reflexive system licensing reflexives. Pronominal reflexives such as tana-n-e are unspecified or indeterminate with respect to the syntactic features such as [α pronominal]/[β anaphor]. When a verbal reflexive marker, kun, is not on verbs, tana-n-e cannot take a local c-commanding antecedent. The syntactic behavior of both nominal and verbal reflexives indicates that the presence of the verbal reflexive marker is not a sufficient and necessary condition for the reflexive interpretation. Thus, anaphoric expressions in Telugu requires principles of both syntactic conditions licensing anaphora as well as verbal reflexive system licensing reflexive predicates. KCI Citation Count: 1