Anaphora and switch-reference

When an argument is anaphorically referenced on a verb, Qohenje cannot employ its pronouns, but instead relies on a system of affixes to show how the referents are tracked into the new clause. The simplest case is when everything remains the same (same participants, in the same LM/TR configuration, and with the same cases). In this case, simple elipsis indicates exact coreference:

In the preceding example, the second clause () has no overt arguments. This fact indicates that both the arguments from the first clause ( and ) serve equally for the second clause, with no alteration either to their LM/TR orientation, nor to their case roles. The resumptive auxiliary ( ) says the same thing for the AUX of the first clause, so the second clause is hence logically : ).

Any variation in either case role orLM/TRorientation must be overtly signalled on the second (and subsequent) VP(s).

Same LM/TR orientation, different case roles [CC]

If the same arguments occupy the same LM/TR orientation in the subsequent clause, but change case roles, this is indicated by a set of affixes that adhere to the periphery of the VP (abbreviated CC for Case Change). Note that the TR CC morphemes are suffixes, while the LM CC morphemes are ligatures that stand in front of the verbal AUX, and in the case of the "Echo" AUX, fuse with it.

The CC markers do not show the three-way animacy split that is found elsewhere in Qohenje, varying only for Animate vs. Non-animate (= Inanimate + Abstract)

		TRAJECTOR					LANDMARK
			AN		NON-AN		INDEPENDENT					FUSED (+Ech)
								AN		NON-AN			AN		NON-AN
>> AG
>> PT
>> AX

 

For instance,

Here the LM argument from the first clause (in the AX case), becomes a PT in the second clause, which is shown by the CCPt morpheme in this case fused with the resumptive auxiliary (), giving . The PT TR of the first clause becomes an AG, as shown by the CCAnAg suffixon the verb. Consider also the following examples,

Altered LM/TR orientation ("Switch reference")

It is also possible for the arguments from the first clause to swap LM/TR roles. Such an inversion is marked by the Switch Reference (SwRef) morpheme (note the irregular spelling: "weicei") which heads the second clause.

Note that this inversion, without further specification, implies that the arguments keep their case roles from the first clause, which is reasonably rare (few Qohenje relations are symmetrical in this way). Any change of role is indicated with the addition of CC morphemes listed above, for instance

These suffixes are used for any kind of anaphora, full pronouns occuring in all other initial referential roles.

Despite the prescriptive "correctness" of the use of the SwRef marker in such phrases, its use is actually redundant, (because the first clause is intransitive, and the second has an overt TR, so there can be no referential ambiguity) so it is normally left out in speech.

 

Reciprocals

The same morpheme can be used within a single clause to indicate a reciprocal action (= "to each other"). In this case it occurs phrase finally. Note that unlike in English, the way of expressing a reciprocal in Qohenje is elliptic: the morpheme follows an overt clause that expresses one "side" of the reciprocal action only:

Verbal anaphora

A final anaphoric possibility in Qohenje is repetition of the verb itself. It is usually considered stylistically undesirable to repeat a full verbal lexeme in adjacent clauses. In cases where the same verbal (in the same aspect) occurs in succession, the second (and any subsequent) occurence is replaced by the invariable verbal proform , hence:

The juxtaposition of the Ech AUX and the VPRON is sometimes written in a single ligature, pronounced (which takes no cejhan):