| endophora |
| Definition: The phenomenon of an expression referring to something that is part of the same discourse. |
| Example: In the statement "I saw David an hour ago. He was looking at his watch", the he is endophoric because it refers to something previously mentioned in the discourse (David). In contrast, if the complete discourse consisted of the statement: "She was lying on the beach," it is exophoric because the she is referring to something that we have not been told about — i.e., the discourse doesn't contain enough information for us to figure out who she is. Note: cataphora is forward-referencing endophora and anaphora is backward-referencing endophora. |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek endon, within + pherein, to carry. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The term's first OED citation is from 1976: "Reference: … [situational] exophora …[ textual] *endophora." (Halliday & Hasan Cohesion in Eng. ii. 33 (table)) |