Outbound anaphora, English compound nouns and Polish relational adjectives

The present paper investigates the phenomenon of outbound anaphora on the basis of morphologically complex words in English and Polish. The discussion focuses on English noun+noun compounds and on Polish relational adjectives. Examples are provided when the nominal modifi er in an English compound can function as an antecedent for anaphoric expressions, such as possessive pronouns and personal pronouns. It is also shown that nouns which underlie Polish relational adjectives can become visible (as potential antecedents) to anaphoric expressions. It is further argued that the contextual accessibility of the underlying nouns “hidden” inside compounds or inside relational adjectives depends on the semantic transparency of the morphologically complex forms (i.e. compounds or suffixal derivatives).