PRONOMINAL AND

REFERENCE
BY:
FAIZA HASSAN LADY JAISA JAINUDDIN
DON JAYEKO TAYABAS
TOPIC TO BE
DISCUSSED:
• What is pronoun

• Prinominals and Case

• The Traditional View of Pronouns

• Pronominal and their Antecedents

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this lesson, you can:
1. Identify errors in the use of pronominals in
terms of case and antecedents;
2. Analyze a selection focusing on the use of
pronominals; and
3. Make a retrieval chart on the four forms of
pronominals with at least two sample
sentences each.
WHAT IS PRONOUN?
REPORTER: LADY JAISA JAINUDDIN
 OVERVIEW
PRONOUN

-is a word used in place of a noun. (The New Webster’s

Dictionary of the English Language Book)

 Example:

• Alice went to Alice’s room to dress because Alice was going to a

reception given by Alice’s club in Alice’s honor.

 
• Alice went her room to dress because she was going to a

reception given by her club in her honor.

 WHAT IS A PRONOUN?

 Jacobs (1995) defined pronouns as special kind of noun.

they would look like this on a tree diagram:

 NP

N’

them

Diagram 14. Noun Phrase with Pronoun as Constituent

 English pronouns have been called “personal pronouns” because
they indicate the notion person, or the role of the referent in the
speech situation. The pronouns I, me, we, and us are called first
person pronouns.
 The second person in a conversational exchange is the addressee
(or addressees), the “you.” ( also the your and yours)
 Everyone and everything else is third person. ( he, his, him, she,
her,hers,it, and its for singular) and (they, their, theirs, and them
for plural).
 PRONOMINAL

PERSONAL NP- INDENDENT

PRONOUNS INTERNAL POSSESIVE
PRONOUNS

• Indicate the notion • Possesive noun • Possesives not

person or the role phrase that occur inside noun phrase
of the referent in either inside
the speech another noun
situation. phrase
 Example:

That is Carla’s restaurant. (NP-internal)

That restaurant is Carla’s (independent possessive)

That is her restaurant. (NP-internal)

That restaurant is hers. (Independent possessive)

 
 Jacobs (1995) explained that NP-internal pronouns like her, their,

and my are possessive noun phrases that occur instead of the

definite article in the noun phrase containing them. Like the

article the, they mark the noun phrase as being definite.

 The noun phrase their community owes its definiteness to the

possessive noun phrase their preceding the head noun

community.

 Indefinite article (a for singular, O for plural)

-independent possessive a community of mine.

PRONOMINAL AND
CASE
REPORTER: LADY JAISA JAINUDDIN
Now, let us see how case comes into play with English pronominal

forms. Consider the pronominal chart below.

 CONSIDER THESE SENTENCES:

1. She wrote the poem. (Nominative pronoun)

2. Aunt Estrella has been kind to your children. (Internal possessive
pronoun)
3. The discussion was between him and me. (Objective pronoun)
4.. I know that the black jacket is his. (Independent possessive pronoun)
TRADITIONAL VIEW OF
PRONOUNS
REPORTER: DON JAYEKO TAYABAS
Jacobs (1995)
• Oversimplified and Misleading
• Gladdy wanted her to attend the meeting

-Pronoun (her) Avoid Repeating (Gladdy)

-Can refer to any female person in the world except Gladdy.
-Gladdy Both the PERSON “wanting to attend the meeting”
“occupied”[e]
- Gladdy wanted [e] to attend the meeting.
 Gladdy thought that Mona wanted her to attend the meeting
-Pronominal “her” NP “Mona”

English does not just have a rule that says

“If you want to refer to someone or something just referred to, use a pronoun

”Written Language and Speech

-Use pronominals to cross-reference
-To point backward (or occasionally forward) in a discourse to another NP
The man conducting the Crimson Grand Choral is Dorito Hannis.
Dorito Hannis is one of the greatest conductors in the campus.
Renowned for his exemplary interpretations, he has been
brought to the external campuses to share his experiences.
- “man” has been identified as Dorito Hannis
- the man conducting
-His and He
PRONOMINALS AND
ANTECEDENT
REPORTER: DON JAYEKO TAYABAS
Jacobs (1995) and Celce-Murcia & Larsen-
Freeman (2008)
• One way to identify the reference of a pronominal
• Eligible Noun Phrase

Jacobs
• (Singular or Plural)
• (Masculine, Feminine, or Neither)

NP – “Antecedent”
ENGLISH GRAMMAR (2020)
 Antecedent as a linguist expression
 Second expression (anaphor)
 If you see Amelia, lend her my book. (Antecedent – Amelia; pronominal – her)
Let us see the following sentence:The principal told Procopio that she could
visit the library.
-Procopio is male
-Eligible Antecedent for she is the principal
- Principal NOT be the only possible antecedent for she
 STUDY THE
FOLLOWING CONTEXT:
REPORTER: FAIZA HASSAN
Yesterday, Procopio interviewed Mrs. Yap, the director of the
university library. Procopio mentioned that his sister Simeona
wanted to write an article about the university library. After the
discussion, the director promised Procopio that she could visit
the university library.
 The most likely antecedent for she is clearly the noun phrase his sister
Simeona , which is in the preceding sentence.

There are two kinds of linguistic units which are relevant for
this reference relationship: the clause and the noun phrase.
1. A pronominal and its antecedent cannot be in the same
clause.
2. A pronominal and its antecedent cannot be in the same
noun phrase
 THIS GENERALIZATION
EXPLAINS WHY
 her cannot have Ospicia as its antecedent in this example:
Ospicia was looking at her in the big mirror.
Take note of the following example wherein her is in a different clause
and so Ospicia can thus be its antecedent:
• Ospicia knew that the woman had looked at her in the big
mirror.
• Our second tentative generalization, A pronominal and
its antecedent cannot be in the same noun phrase,
concerns noun phrases.
• him cannot have Arsenio as its antecedent in the
sentence below:
- Arsenio’s eloquence about him pleased Violeta.
• The pronominal him is inside the same noun phrase as
Arsenio (Arsenio’s eloquence about him) and therefore
cannot have Arsenio as its antecedent.

• According to Jacobs, an examination of more complex cases

shows that there is a need to revise these tentative
generalizations.
 Consider this sentence:
-They know nothing about a play that Marcos wrote about
Shakespeare’s treatment of him.
• Look at the following constituent structure tree for the sentence:
• we need to phrase our generalization in terms of the smallest domain
containing the pronominal which we call the local domain.

A pronominal and its antecedent cannot be in the same local

domain.
• Orsolo’s eloquence pleased him.
• According to Jacobs, this relation between a pronominal and its antecedent is
as one in which the antecedent binds the pronominal. Where a pronominal
lacks an antecedent, it is said to be free.
EFFECT OF ORDER AND
RANK
REPORTER: FAIZA HASSAN
 • Let us consider the following examples where the pronominal her can
have as its antecedent the noun phrase Josephine Dumlao.

Josephine Dumlao admitted that the manager had interviewed

her. The secretary reported that Josephine Dumlao had
arrived in Cebu. The manager was looking for her.
• Consider this sentence in which the pronominal she
occurs before the full noun phrase:

-She admitted that the manager had interviewed Josephine

Dumlao.
1.While the manger was looking for her in Cebu, the secretary
believed Josephine Dumlao to be hiding in Tagbilaran City.

2. Because the secretary felt she was keeping certain facts,

Josephine Dumlao was ordered to appear at the police station.

3. That she had been cheated was now obvious even to Josephine
Dumlao.
• In this case, a pronominal can precede its antecedent. Such
clauses are sometimes referred to as having a lower rank.
• pronominal reference across clause boundaries:
-A pronominal can follow its antecedent, but it can only
precede its antecedent if the pronominal is in a lower
ranked clause.
 • Our two generalizations cover pronominal reference within
both noun phrases and clauses, as well as across clauses
in the same sentence.
As a summary, the right positions for a pronominal and its antecedent
are as follows:
1. They cannot be in the same local domain, meaning, in the
same smallest clause or noun phrase.
2. 2. A pronominal can follow its antecedent but can only
precede it if the pronominal is in a lower ranked clause.
THE END