Exophora
Encyclopedia
In linguistic
pragmatics
, exophora is reference to something extralinguistic, i.e. not in the same text, and contrasts with endophora
. Exophora can be deictic
, in which special words or grammatical markings are used to make reference to something in the context of the utterance or speaker. For example, pronoun
s are often exophoric, with words such as "this", "that", "here", "there", as in that chair over there is John's said while indicating the direction of the chair referred to. Given "Did the gardener water those plants?", it is quite possible that "those" refers back to the preceding text, to some earlier mention of those particular plants in the discussion. But it is also possible that it refers to the environment in which the dialogue is taking place — to the "context of situation", as it is called — where the plants in question are present and can be pointed to if necessary. The interpretation would be "those plants there, in front of us". This kind of reference is called exophora, since it takes us outside the text altogether. Exophoric reference is not cohesive
, since it does not bind the two elements together into a text.
For example, the meaning of the phrase "the Queen" may be determined by the country in which it is spoken. Because there are many Queens throughout the world, the location of the speaker provides the extra information that allows an individual Queen to be identified.
The precise origin of the term is not fully clear, but it is probably intended to suggest a referring expression
that always has the same (Greek hómos) referent (within a given cultural context, of course). It (or rather homophoric) seems to have been first used in the influential book by M.A.K. Halliday and R. Hasan, Cohesion in English (Longman, 1976, pp. 71 and 73).
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
pragmatics
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
, exophora is reference to something extralinguistic, i.e. not in the same text, and contrasts with endophora
Endophora
In linguistics, endophora is a term that means an expression which refers to something intratextual, i.e. in the same text.For example, in the sentences "I saw Sally yesterday. She was lying on the beach", "she" is an endophoric expression because it refers to something already mentioned in the...
. Exophora can be deictic
Deixis
In linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning varies depending on time and/or place...
, in which special words or grammatical markings are used to make reference to something in the context of the utterance or speaker. For example, pronoun
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...
s are often exophoric, with words such as "this", "that", "here", "there", as in that chair over there is John's said while indicating the direction of the chair referred to. Given "Did the gardener water those plants?", it is quite possible that "those" refers back to the preceding text, to some earlier mention of those particular plants in the discussion. But it is also possible that it refers to the environment in which the dialogue is taking place — to the "context of situation", as it is called — where the plants in question are present and can be pointed to if necessary. The interpretation would be "those plants there, in front of us". This kind of reference is called exophora, since it takes us outside the text altogether. Exophoric reference is not cohesive
Cohesion (linguistics)
Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship within a text or sentence. Cohesion can be defined as the links that hold a text together and give it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence...
, since it does not bind the two elements together into a text.
Homophora
A type of exophora, homophora relates to a generic phrase that obtains a specific meaning through knowledge of its context; a specific example of homophora can variably be a "homophor" or a "homophoric reference".For example, the meaning of the phrase "the Queen" may be determined by the country in which it is spoken. Because there are many Queens throughout the world, the location of the speaker provides the extra information that allows an individual Queen to be identified.
The precise origin of the term is not fully clear, but it is probably intended to suggest a referring expression
Referring expression
A referring expression , in linguistics, is any noun phrase, or surrogate for a noun phrase, whose function in a text is "pick out" someone an individual person, place, object, or a set of persons, places, objects, etc. The technical terminology for "pick out" differs a great deal from one...
that always has the same (Greek hómos) referent (within a given cultural context, of course). It (or rather homophoric) seems to have been first used in the influential book by M.A.K. Halliday and R. Hasan, Cohesion in English (Longman, 1976, pp. 71 and 73).
See also
- AnaphoraAnaphora (linguistics)In linguistics, anaphora is an instance of an expression referring to another. Usually, an anaphoric expression is represented by a pro-form or some other kind of deictic--for instance, a pronoun referring to its antecedent...
- Cataphoric reference
- DeixisDeixisIn linguistics, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. Words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning varies depending on time and/or place...
- Generic antecedents
External links
- What is homophora? — from SIL InternationalSIL InternationalSIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...