Definition of Anaphora in RFT Terms
Anaphora is the emergent ability to maintain referential coherence across clauses, utterances, or contexts by relating a pronoun or indexical term (e.g., he, she, that, it) to its antecedent using derived coordination, temporal, deictic, and hierarchical relations.
Component Relational Frames Involved in Anaphora
Coordination Frame (A = B):
The pronoun (he) must be functionally equated with its referent (the boy who was playing outside). This is a derived equivalence that the listener must construct across non-adjacent linguistic units.Temporal Frame (Before / After / During):
Resolving anaphora often depends on understanding the temporal structure of discourse. E.g., 'The girl dropped the glass. She cried.' → 'She' is temporally and causally linked to the prior clause.Deictic Frames (I–You, Here–There, Now–Then):
Anaphora resolution often requires taking the speaker’s perspective to identify referents. The listener must track who is speaking when and where to resolve shifting referents.Hierarchical Frames (Part-of / Kind-of / Role-of):
Anaphoric reference may rely on recognizing category membership or narrative roles. E.g., 'The teacher entered. She looked angry.' → 'She' is 'the teacher' via role attribution.Distinction Frame (A ≠ B):
Important for disambiguating multiple potential referents. E.g., 'The boy pushed the girl. He fell.' requires relational disambiguation.
Frame Family Integration (non-linear, creates emergent structure)
Frame Family | Role in Anaphora |
Coordination | Establishes equivalence between pronoun and antecedent. |
Temporal | Anchors referent to event order. |
Deictic | Shifts the referent based on speaker/listener perspective. |
Hierarchical | Applies category or role knowledge to infer referent. |
Distinction | Separates referents in ambiguous or contrastive contexts. |
Example Narratives
“Samantha was carrying a basket. She tripped on the sidewalk.”
Coordination: “She” = “Samantha”
Temporal: The second sentence is understood as following the first in time
Deictic: “She” refers to Samantha from the narrator’s perspective
Hierarchical: Samantha is the subject of both actions
Distinction: Context clarifies which girl is being referred to
Summary
Anaphora, from an RFT perspective, is a relationally emergent repertoire that depends on the flexible Crel coordination of multiple frame families to sustain reference and coherence across discourse. Its development is a critical milestone in pragmatic and narrative language, and deficits in anaphoric resolution often signal delays in perspective taking, coordination, or temporal sequencing.