Animacy, i.e. whether a given referent is animate (a human, an animal) or inanimate, has far-reaching consequences on the linguistic form. In the current project I consider the role animacy plays in the expression of so-called indirect anaphora, when a new referent is presented (in languages that allow it) in the definite form. The definite article in Swedish is formed between 1250 and 1450. During this period indirect anaphora is sometimes expressed by the definite article, sometimes by possessive pronouns and sometimes by zero marking. The results of the project show that the choice of linguistic form is conditioned by the animacy of the anchoring element and of the anaphoric element.
Animacy, i.e. whether a given referent is animate (a human, an animal) or inanimate, has far-reaching consequences on the linguistic form. And thus while it is correct to say 'John kissed Mary on the cheek', it is incorrect, or at least comical, to say 'The pope kissed the airport on the runway' since animate (Mary) and inanimate referents (airport) are treated differently.
In the current project I consider the role animacy plays in the expression of so-called indirect anaphora, when a new referent is presented (in languages that allow it) in the definite form, e.g. 'I took a taxi to the airport, the driver was a nice young man.', where 'a taxi' is an anchoring element and 'the driver' an anaphoric one. The definite article in Swedish is formed between 1250 and 1450. During this period indirect anaphora is sometimes expressed by the definite article, sometimes by possessive pronouns and sometimes by zero marking. The results of the project show that the choice of linguistic form is conditioned by the animacy of the anchoring element and of the anaphoric element. For pairs of inanimate referents the anaphor appears with zero marking most of the period, while for the pairs of animate anchors and inanimate anaphors there is a great variation in form throughout this period until finally the preferred form is established as the definite article.
The results show moreover that animate referents can anchor a more varied number of relations, which is illustrated by a wider variety of linguistic expressions.