Reflexivity and Dependency

The analyses of Pollard and Sag (1992, 1994) and Reinhart and Reuland (1993) answer why certain reflexive pronouns – so-called picture-NP-reflexives – behave anomalously in allowing co-reference with nonbinding antecedents. These reflexives are exempt from Binding Theory’s Principle A because Principle A only requires binding if a potential antecedent is available in a given local domain. The reflexive himself in (1) does not find a local antecedent in the domain of the predicate picture and hence becomes exempt from an application of Binding Theory. Just like the co-indexation of the pronoun him with the subject John, the co-indexation of the reflexive is not an instance of binding, but an indication of co-reference.