Intransitive Copy Pronouns (ICPs) – a common feature of West African languages – are traditionally described as copies of the subject suffixed to intransitive verbs. There is still little consensus in the literature as to how they work. This thesis describes the “how” using cognitive linguistics, in particular mental space theory (i.e., the brain’s use of conceptual “realities” to help process change) and the Access Principle (i.e., the mechanism used to connect elements in these “realities”). With this description, I counter the theory that ICPs function like cognate objects (Storch, Atindogbé & Blench 2011: 6), and I support and further explain the theory that ICPs encode subject point-of-view (Frajzyngier 2012: 585). I also establish a previously unreported function of navigating disruptions in the cognitive environment, and show how this function accounts for some of the ICP’s seemingly unrelated semantic effects; I also show how it explains variation in ICP use within discourse.
