anaphora
UK[əˈnæf.ər.ə]US[əˈnæf.ɚ.ə]
n
the use of a word referring back to a word used earlier in a text or conversation, to avoid repetition, for example the use of 'it' to refer back to 'a story'
n
the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences for rhetorical or poetic effect
Morpheme Breakdown
ana
phora
ana
back, again
phora
bearing, carrying
Etymology
the word 'anaphora' is a direct borrowing from late latin, which itself took it from greek 'anaphora', meaning 'a carrying back' or 'reference'. its greek components are 'ana-' (back, again) and '-phora' (bearing), from the verb 'pherein' (to bear). in its original greek rhetorical sense, it signified the 'carrying back' of an expression to a preceding word. this literal sense of carrying back evolved into the modern grammatical and rhetorical meanings, where a word refers back to an antecedent or a phrase is repeated from the beginning, conceptually 'carrying' the sense back to its starting point.
Analysis
Structure: ana (back, again) + phora (bearing, carrying)
ana: greek origin, a prefix meaning 'up', 'back', 'again', or 'throughout'.
phora: from greek 'phora', meaning 'a bearing', 'a carrying', derived from 'pherein', meaning 'to bear' or 'to carry'.
Examples
in the sentence 'when she arrived, mary was tired,' 'she' is an example of anaphora, referring to 'mary'.
the famous line 'we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds...' uses anaphora for powerful emphasis.
understanding anaphora is crucial for resolving pronoun references in language processing.