Concept: obviative pronoun

Definition

An obviative pronoun is an °anaphoric °pronoun that cannot be °coreferential with a °coargument.

Comments

This definition is from Haspelmath (2023: 53). ❡

The term "obviative" originally comes from Algonquian linguistics.

Wikipedia
obviative
SIL Glossary
obviative person deixis
Quotation
"Morphologically marked Obviation, at least as instantiated in Algonquian languages such languages as Cree and Ojibwa..., is also a manifestation of coargument disjoint reference, but one that falls within “syntax” as traditionally demarcated. These languages distinguish between two sets of pronominal affixes, obviative (the morphologically marked category), and proximate. Above the clausal level, the use of proximates and obviatives is determined by discourse structure, the basic generalization being that proximate forms are reserved for the current discourse topic (or topics, since in certain cases there may be more than one concurrent topic). A switch of obviation serves, typically, to foreground another topic. Within a clause, obviation is rigorously controlled by the constraint that there can be at most one proximate third person argument." (Kiparsky 2002: 23) ❡ "In many (or perhaps most) languages, nonsubject anaphoric personal pronouns are obviative (Kiparsky 2002; 2012), i.e. they cannot be coreferential with a coar- gument." (Haspelmath 2023: 42)
Sources
Kiparsky 2012