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This is the most extensive cross-linguistic account of anaphora ever published.

Anaphora is at the centre of work on the interface between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. It is also a subject of key current interest in psycho- and computational linguistics and to research on the philosophy of language and language in cognitive science.

Yan Huang provides an extensive yet accessible overview of the major contemporary issues surrounding anaphora and gives a critical survey of the many and diverse contemporary approaches to it. He also advances the neo-Gricean pragmatic theory of anaphora he has developed in earlier work. The survey and analysis are based on a rich collection of data drawn from a representative range of some 550 of the world's languages. The topics the author covers include binding and control, null subjects and objects, long-distance reflexivization, VP-ellipsis, logophoricity, bridging-cross reference, switch-reference and discourse anaphora.

Written by a leading expert on anaphora, this book will be the standard point of reference for all those interested in this important topic in theoretical linguisitcs.

Yan Huang (PhD, Cambridge; DPhil, Oxford) is Reader in Linguistics at the University of Reading. He has taught previously at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Syntax and Pragmatics of Anaphora (Cambridge University Press, 1994). He has also published a number of articles and reviews in major international journals of linguistics.