Im Che-Gyong. 1999. Interpretation of "-self": An Optimality Theoretic Approach. Studies in Modern Grammar 16, 139-159. The distribution and the interpretation of the English reflexive "-self" have been controversial among scholars since it was first suggested in Chomsky (1980, 1982). In this paper, we try to show that the English reflexives can be divided into two groups: core vs. non-core reflexives, adopting Webelhuth`s (1995) suggestion. Core reflexives are the ones which obey the Binding Principles at morpho-syntactic level and non-core reflexives are the ones which are used logophorically in a discourse. We argue that as long as the interpretation of a reflexive is finding its antecedent, a non-core reflexive has its prominent antecedent in a dicourse. The hedges to maintain the Principles of Binding can be converted into the constraints of Optimality Theory, the hierarchy of which plays the decisive role to select the optimal candidate for the antecedent of a reflexive. To select the optimal antecedent of non-core reflexives, we suggest a pragmatic constraint which can save the logophoric use of the reflexives. We also suggest that if those constraints are ranked properly, not only the interpretation of core and non-core reflexives can be obtained in a systematic way but their complementary distribution can be clarified as well.

• Che Gyong Im