Pronouns and reference in Estonian
Renate Pajusalu · Language Typology and Universals · 2009
Abstract The article gives an overview of functions of Estonian frequent pronouns (demonstratives, personal, indefinite and quantificational pronouns) from typological point of view. Both deictic and anaphoric usages are discussed. The main purpose of the article is to present categories which influence the choice of a pronoun for the particular point of ongoing discourse. These categories are: activation status and animacy of the referent, pragmatic contrast, type of syntactic construction, definiteness/indefiniteness of the noun phrase, the status of the referred person in the ongoing narrative and pragmatic plenitude (for quantificational pronouns).