Documentation

Linglib.Phenomena.Anaphora.Typology

Pronoun Typology: PER/DEM Classification + Gradient Measures #

@cite{cardinaletti-starke-1999} @cite{elbourne-2005} @cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} @cite{postal-1966} @cite{schwarz-2009} @cite{schwarz-2013} @cite{levshina-stoynova-2023}

@cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} "Revisiting Pronominal Typology" (LI 48(2)) argue that 3rd-person pronouns split into two structural types:

Minimize DP! makes PER the default; DEM requires pragmatic licensing (emotivity, disambiguation, register).

Key Claims #

  1. If a language has DEM pronouns, it also has PER pronouns (DEM ⊂ PER)
  2. DEM use requires pragmatic licensing (Minimize DP!)
  3. Article system predicts D-layer structure

Gradient Component #

Following @cite{levshina-stoynova-2023} / WordOrder/Gradience.lean, we encode continuous measures of pronoun system complexity: inventory sizes, licensing context counts, and strength-level counts.

@cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017}: structural classification of 3rd-person pronouns.

PER pronouns project only D_det (weak article layer). DEM pronouns project D_deix + D_det (strong article layer).

Instances For
    Equations
    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
    Instances For

      @cite{cardinaletti-starke-1999}: pronoun strength.

      Three-way typology based on phonological/syntactic deficiency:

      • Strong: full, stressed (can be coordinated, modified, focused)
      • Weak: reduced, unstressed (cannot be coordinated/focused)
      • Clitic: phonologically deficient, must attach to host
      Instances For
        Equations
        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
        Instances For

          Pragmatic contexts that license DEM pronoun use (@cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} §3).

          Minimize DP! requires DEM to be pragmatically licensed. These are the five licensing contexts identified by PG&G.

          Instances For
            Equations
            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
            Instances For

              A 3rd-person pronoun form in a language's inventory.

              Instances For
                Equations
                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                Instances For
                  Equations
                  Instances For

                    Per-language pronoun system datum (@cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} + @cite{cardinaletti-starke-1999}).

                    Each datum records the full 3rd-person pronoun inventory, article system, D-layer count, DEM licensing contexts, and DEM productivity.

                    • language : String
                    • isoCode : String
                    • Available 3rd-person pronoun forms

                    • Article system type

                    • dLayers : Nat

                      Number of D-layers: 1 = D_det only (PER), 2 = D_deix + D_det (PER+DEM)

                    • demLicensing : List DEMLicensingContext

                      Pragmatic contexts licensing DEM use (empty for PER-only languages)

                    • demProductive : Bool

                      Whether DEM pronouns are productive (freely usable) as 3rd-person reference

                    Instances For
                      Equations
                      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                      Instances For
                        Equations
                        Instances For
                          Equations
                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                          Instances For
                            Equations
                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                            Instances For
                              Equations
                              • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                              Instances For
                                Equations
                                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                Instances For
                                  Equations
                                  • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                  Instances For
                                    Equations
                                    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                    Instances For
                                      Equations
                                      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                      Instances For
                                        Equations
                                        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                        Instances For
                                          Equations
                                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                          Instances For
                                            Equations
                                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                            Instances For
                                              Equations
                                              • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                              Instances For

                                                All 11 languages from @cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} survey.

                                                Equations
                                                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                Instances For

                                                  Finnish: "hän" (3sg human, PER, no gender), "he" (3pl human, PER), "se" (3sg non-human / DEM), "tämä" (proximal DEM), "tuo" (distal DEM). No articles. "se" is productively used as 3rd-person reference in colloquial Finnish. Not part of @cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} sample — a counterexample to the article-DEM productivity correlation (2 D-layers, productive DEM, but no articles).

                                                  Equations
                                                  • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                  Instances For

                                                    Gradient pronoun system profile, analogous to GradientWOProfile.

                                                    Captures continuous variation in pronoun system complexity across languages.

                                                    • name : String
                                                    • isoCode : String
                                                    • perInventory : Nat

                                                      Number of distinct PER pronoun forms

                                                    • demInventory : Nat

                                                      Number of distinct DEM pronoun forms usable as pronouns

                                                    • demLicensingCount : Nat

                                                      Number of pragmatic contexts licensing DEM use (0–5 scale)

                                                    • strengthLevels : Nat

                                                      Pronoun strength levels available: 1=strong only, 2=strong+weak, 3=strong+weak+clitic

                                                    Instances For
                                                      Equations
                                                      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                      Instances For
                                                        Equations
                                                        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                        Instances For

                                                          Compute gradient profile from a PronounSystemDatum.

                                                          Equations
                                                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                          Instances For

                                                            All 11 gradient pronoun system profiles.

                                                            Equations
                                                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                            Instances For

                                                              Finnish has productive DEM with no articles — a counterexample to the PG&G sample's dem_productivity_from_article_system generalization.

                                                              PG&G Core Claims #

                                                              Minimize DP! (@cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017} §3): Languages where DEM is productive all require pragmatic licensing (demLicensing is non-empty).

                                                              DEM is the marked choice; PER is the default.

                                                              Implicational universal: If DEM exists in a language's inventory, PER also exists. No language has DEM without PER.

                                                              This follows from PG&G's structural claim: DEM = D_deix + D_det + NP, where D_det is the PER layer. DEM presupposes PER structurally.

                                                              Article-D-layer correlation (@cite{schwarz-2009} → PG&G): Languages with both weak and strong articles have 2 D-layers.

                                                              Gradient Claims #

                                                              PER inventory is continuous: ranges from 2 (Kutchi Gujarati) to 3 (most languages with m/f/n), not a binary split.

                                                              DEM inventory correlates with article system: languages with weakAndStrong articles have non-zero DEM inventory.

                                                              Strength levels vary: Romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan) have 3 strength levels (strong+weak+clitic), while Germanic typically has 2.

                                                              Germanic languages with DEM (German, Bavarian) have 2 strength levels.

                                                              DEM licensing count ranges from 0 to 5, forming a continuum rather than a binary productive/non-productive distinction.

                                                              Open Problem #

                                                              DEM productivity tracks overt strong articles (pattern in PG&G data):

                                                              Among 2-layer languages, only those with overt weak+strong article morphology (German, Bavarian) have productive DEM. Languages with 2 D-layers but no overt articles (Hebrew, Czech) or limited article systems restrict DEM.

                                                              @cite{schwarz-2013} §5.5 provides the theoretical link: the strong article conventionalizes the D_deix layer, making DEM pronouns (which also project D_deix) more accessible. Without overt strong articles, D_deix is available syntactically but not conventionalized for reference tracking.

                                                              Open question: why does article-system conventionalization affect pronoun productivity? PG&G suggest familiarity/frequency; @cite{schwarz-2013} suggests the strong article's anaphoric function naturally extends to pronominal use.

                                                              Definite use types (@cite{hawkins-1978}, @cite{schwarz-2013} §2.1) #

                                                              Types and mappings are defined in Core/Definiteness.lean: DefiniteUseType, BridgingSubtype, useTypeToPresupType, bridgingPresupType.

                                                              @cite{schwarz-2013} cross-linguistic article paradigm data #

                                                              Per-language article paradigm from @cite{schwarz-2013}.

                                                              • language : String
                                                              • isoCode : String
                                                              • strongForm : Option String

                                                                Morphological form of the strong article (if any)

                                                              • weakForm : Option String

                                                                Morphological form of the weak article (if any)

                                                              • How weak definites are expressed

                                                              • strongForAnaphoric : Bool

                                                                Strong article used for anaphoric definites

                                                              • weakForUniqueness : Bool

                                                                Weak article/bare nominal used for uniqueness/situational

                                                              • bridgingSplit : Bool

                                                                Bridging shows the split (part-whole = weak, producer = strong)

                                                              Instances For
                                                                Equations
                                                                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                Instances For
                                                                  Equations
                                                                  • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                  Instances For
                                                                    Equations
                                                                    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                    Instances For
                                                                      Equations
                                                                      • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                      Instances For
                                                                        Equations
                                                                        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                        Instances For
                                                                          Equations
                                                                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                          Instances For
                                                                            Equations
                                                                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                            Instances For
                                                                              Equations
                                                                              • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                              Instances For

                                                                                All 7 languages from @cite{schwarz-2013} survey.

                                                                                Equations
                                                                                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                                Instances For

                                                                                  @cite{schwarz-2013} verified generalizations #

                                                                                  Strong article → anaphoric use (@cite{schwarz-2013} §3.1.1): All surveyed languages use the strong article for anaphoric definites.

                                                                                  Weak form → uniqueness/situational use (@cite{schwarz-2013} §3.1.2): All surveyed languages use weak articles (or bare nominals) for uniqueness-based definites.

                                                                                  Bridging split (@cite{schwarz-2013} §3.2): Most languages split bridging across article forms (part-whole = weak, producer = strong). 5 of 7 languages show this pattern; Hausa lacks data, and Haitian Creole uses a single form for everything.

                                                                                  Bare-nominal strategy (@cite{schwarz-2013} §4.1): Languages with only one overt article form (Akan, Mauritian Creole) use bare nominals for weak-article definites.

                                                                                  Haitian Creole is exceptional (@cite{schwarz-2013} §4.3): single determiner la for both anaphoric and uniqueness uses — no weak/strong split.

                                                                                  Bridge: Schwarz article types ↔ PG&G pronoun D-layers #

                                                                                  @cite{schwarz-2013} §5.5 explicitly connects the article contrast to pronouns: "pronouns are definite articles without overt NP". German d-pronouns (der/die/das) are identical to strong articles. The pronominal domain shows parallel contrasts (/2007, /2011).

                                                                                  The structural mapping:

                                                                                  Languages with two overt article forms in @cite{schwarz-2013} correspond to 2-D-layer languages in @cite{patel-grosz-grosz-2017}. Verified for German, which appears in both datasets.

                                                                                  Bridge 1: PronounClass ↔ AnaphorType (Coreference.lean) #

                                                                                  Bridge 2: DEM pronouns ↔ Kaplan-style true demonstratives #

                                                                                  DEM pronouns require D_deix — the same structural layer that hosts Kaplan's demonstration. True demonstratives in Demonstratives.lean have a Demonstration component; DEM pronouns require D_deix licensing.

                                                                                  The connection: D_deix is the syntactic home of the demonstration. PER pronouns lack D_deix, so they cannot be true demonstratives.

                                                                                  DEM pronouns require D_deix (dLayers = 2), which is the structural position for Kaplan's demonstration. PER-only languages (dLayers = 1) cannot have true demonstrative pronouns.

                                                                                  Bridge 3: PER pronouns ↔ Direct Reference #

                                                                                  PER pronouns are directly referential in Kaplan's sense: they contribute their referent to the proposition, with no descriptive content (no D_deix, no demonstration, no descriptive component).

                                                                                  This connects to DirectReference.lean's modal argument: PER pronouns, like names, are rigid designators. DEM pronouns may involve a descriptive/deictic component (D_deix), making them potentially non-rigid under some analyses.

                                                                                  PER-only languages have no descriptive D-layer: all forms are directly referential (rigid designators).

                                                                                  Bridge 4: Article system ↔ D-layer count #

                                                                                  @cite{schwarz-2009} establishes that the weak/strong article distinction is structurally real (D_det vs D_deix + D_det). PG&G build on this: languages with both article types have the structural space for DEM.

                                                                                  No-article languages with DEM (Hebrew, Czech) show that D-layers can exist without overt article morphology. The D_deix layer is present in the syntax even without morphological exponence.