Reflexives and Constraints on the Borrowing of Discourse

This paper concerns some data from Tahitian French which pose potential problems for previous accounts of binding phenomena (Chomsky 1981; Rein-hart & Reuland 1993). Traditional accounts seek to explain the apparent com plementary distribution between pronouns and anaphors, as shown below: (1) a. Clint Eastwood * admires himself,/*j b. Clint Eastwood * admires him;/,. In several Creoles, however, anaphors and non-coreferential pronouns share both phonetic form and syntactic distribution. The following examples are am biguous when taken out of an appropriate discourse context: (2)ii batlij/i (Seselwa) he hit him(self) 'He hit him(self)' (3) lij fin pandi li ^ (Mauritian Creole) he made hang him(self) 'He hanged him(self)&apos