Re: Question about anaphora

Harald Stoiber wrote:

>"There is a problem and a solution. It came to my mind yesterday."
For total clarity, in Engl. and many other languages (including Kash), you'd
have to repeat "problem" or "solution" instead of using "it". Spanish could
get around it in the German manner, by using a pronoun (ésta 'this, the
nearest referent'); similarly in the construction "the latter...the
former.." (éste/ésta 'this'...aquél/aquélla 'that', note that the "far
demonstrative" is used, so it's essentially spatial.).  Seems to me this is
not unlike what Dirk Elzinga mentioned.
>
> Hm... looks like some kind of backwards-counting concept. The
> proximate pronoun would then be used for the last antecedent
> and the obviative for the last but one antecedent?
>
> Or is it a spatial near vs. far distinction?
>
Either of these would work.

My understanding of the proximate/obviative distinction is that it's needed
(among other things) to avoid ambiguity when two 3rd-person referents are
involved.
"He said he would go", "She gave me her picture"-- out of context, I think
Engl. speakers would assume that he--he, or she--her, refer to the same
person. But they needn't.  An obv/prox distinction would clarify what was
meant, even without context.