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In linguistics, anaphora is an instance of an expression referring to another.

In general, an anaphoric expression is represented by a pro-form or some kind of deictic.

In some theories, the strict definition of anaphora includes only references to preceding utterances. Under this definition, forward references are instead named cataphora, and both effects together are endophora. Also, the term exophora names situations where the referent does not appear in the utterances of the speaker, but instead in the real world. Some linguists prefer to define anaphora generically to include all of these referential effects.

• The monkey took the banana and ate it. "It" is anaphoric under the strict definition (it refers to the banana).
• Pam went home because she felt sick. "She" is anaphoric (it refers to Pam).
• What is this? "This" can be considered exophoric (it refers to some object near the speaker or, colloquially, to a situation which is happening).

In generative grammar, the term anaphor is used to refer to English's reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, and analogous forms in other languages. Anaphors in this sense must have strictly local antecedents, because they receive their reference via the local syntactic operation (or rule of interpretation) known as binding.

This means finding what the anaphor is referring to, and is often required when sentences are taken out of context.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand visited us yesterday. The visit was the first time she had come to New York since 1998.

If the second sentence is quoted by itself, it is necessary to resolve the anaphor:

The visit was the first time the Prime Minister of New Zealand had come to New York since 1998.

• Lasnik, Howard and Uriagereka, Juan, A Course in GB Syntax. Lectures on Empty Categories, and Binding, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1988.
• Haegeman, Liliane, Introduction to Government and Binding Theory, 2nd edition, Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 1994.

• Coreference
• Deixis
• Endophora
• Generic antecedents
• Named Entity Recognition
• Pro-form
• Unsolved problems in linguistics

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• What is anaphora?