Production And Comprehension Of Unheralded Pronouns: A Corpus Analysis

Theories of pronoun resolution often assume that pronouns' referents reside in the immediate discourse context. However, language users regularly produce and comprehend unheralded pronouns that violate that assumption. This article provides a taxonomy of unheralded pronouns that makes reference to speakers' and addressees' common ground. Data from a corpus analysis demonstrates the relative ubiquity of the types of pronouns within the taxonomy. In addition, we review extant theory and research that suggests how addressees are able to resolve these pronouns, despite the absence of proximal referents.