FROM ANAPHORIC TO CATAPHORIC ‘IT’ A VIEW FROM COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS1

Although the anaphoric use of pronouns has been studied in depth by linguists in the past, the cataphoric use of pronouns seems to have received less attention among linguists. However, cognitive linguists have recently begun to turn their attention to the cataphoric use of pronouns such as English it, using real rather than invented examples in their analyses. As this paper aims to demonstrate, cognitive linguistics can reveal at least three things about cataphoric it in English. First, rather than being a meaningless functional word or so-called dummy subject, cataphoric it is often polysemous and therefore rich in meaning. Second, grammatical iconicity suggests that while the use of it is optional with certain verbs, its use may be motivated by a desire to create conceptual distance at times. Third, certain verbs that are mental space builders show how the use of it may influence the semantics of the verbs with which it is used, especially when the use of it is grammatically optional