One True Anaphor

I argue that there is only one true anaphor in natural language, which takes many shapes. Building on the idea that some pronouns are constructed and others are ‘‘natural-born’’ with features, as suggested by Kratzer (2009), I suggest that all nonlocally anteceded bound variable pronouns that are traditionally bound (c-commanded) are the spell-out of a special, but universally available, dependent form, D-bound. The language-specific spell-out of D-bound in phase-internal contexts is responsible for Principle A effects, but not every language imposes phase-internal morphology for binding (thus, Principle A effects are not universal). This approach resolves morphological paradoxes that arise in ellipsis contexts when distance-bound antecedent forms behave as locally bound and vice versa. Finally, the distribution of Principle B and C effects is shown to be a consequence of the distribution of D-bound—the preferred form for anaphoric relations wherever it is available.