On Issue of Semantics and Pragmatics of Reflexive Constructions

Institute of Linguistics and Cross-Cultural Communication, Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Irkutsk, Russia

^* Corresponding author: cosmir@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article describes semantics and pragmatics of reflexive constructions. Common notes on the semantics of reflexivity are given. Reflexivity reflects specific subject-object relationships demonstrated in explicitly and implicitly reflexive constructions. Implicit reflexivity is discussed of a relatively small class of verbs in English. It is stated that the full referent identity of an anaphora pronoun and personal antecedent in the position of the subject is not obligatory. Different standpoints on the nature of reflexivity are distinguished. The existence of a special type of referential identity of a reflexive anaphora and an antecedent word is substantiated, when one and the same referent is interpreted by these linguistic units in a different way carrying out different semantic and syntactic functions in a sentence. Moreover, an antecedent and an anaphora turn out to be united at the level of the semantic structure. In the syntactic structure, the anaphora and an antecedent word prove to be referentially non-identical. Using psycholinguistic analysis, reflexive constructions in English are divided into introspective and descriptive. The strangeness of reflexivity is in the use of a reflexive pronoun, conditioned by an aspectual-temporal form of a verb.