2.1. Pronouns
Pronominal expressions [LEXICON 3.7] are the main means of expressing co-reference in LSC. Discourse referents are localized is signing space, that is, they are associated with certain spatial locations. Such a spatial location may be established across sentence boundaries. In coreferential contexts, these areas can be later pointed to or referred to through verbal agreement. Pointing to a particular area activates the discourse referent associated with this area. For instance, in the following example the referent “son” is associated with the locus a. In the second clause, two index signs are directed to the same locus and the coincidence of the direction triggers a coreferential interpretation. Several sentences later the signer uses index signs and agreement verbs directed to the same locus a to refer back to the son.
ixc laptop 1offer3 ix3 son. ix3 soon enterprise work 3select3.
‘I will offer this laptop to my son. He has been selected to work at an enterprise.’
(recreated from Barberà, 2014: 150)