Teacher Discussion Forums

Would you say "that", in the sentence below, is anaphoric reference or cataphoric reference?

"Is a woman’s vocation as ‘authentic’ as that of a man?"


Also, what do you think of that little contrastive expression, "as that of"?


Cheers

M56

I suppose it might be wise to explain the terms "anaphoric" and "cataphoric" for those of us who don't mind admitting their ignorance.

Anaphora:
1)The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills” (Winston S. Churchill).
2)Linguistics. The use of a linguistic unit, such as a pronoun, to refer back to another unit, as the use of her to refer to Anne in the sentence Anne asked Edward to pass her the salt.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anaphora

Cataphora is the coreference of one expression with another expression which follows it. The following expression provides the information necessary for interpretation of the preceding one.
This is often understood as an expression “referring” forward to another expression.
Example (English)
Here is an example of cataphora:
In the following sentence, the relationship of one to a towel is an example of cataphora:
If you need one, there's a towel in the top drawer.
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/Glossary ... aphora.htm

Since that in metal56's example refers back to vocation, I'd say it was anaphoric

Thanks lol.

And me thinkin everyone here was versed in the idiom of liguistics. I should have posted definitions.

I did see "that" a substitution and cataphoric, pointing to "the vocation of a man". A way of avoiding the genetive. But now i have to think again.

I take "Is a woman’s vocation as ‘authentic’ as that of a man?" to mean "Is a woman’s vocation as ‘authentic’ as the vocation of a man?" or simply "Is a woman’s vocation as ‘authentic’ as a man's?"

Whichever way you say it, the answer still has to be "yes"