What is the appropriate way of using 自分 with respect to the referent?


> **妻は私が自分を今でも愛していると信じている**  
>  (Tsuma wa watashi ga jibun o ima demo aishite iru to shinjite iru.)  
>  My wife believes that i still love her.

In the book it is said that:

> **When a reflexive pronoun _jibun_ is used, speaker tends to empathize with
> the referent of _jibun_ , which implies that the speaker's viewpoint is that
> of the referent.**

I don't seem to find any contradictions between the sentence and the rule no
matter how many times i read it. For instance, this is said to be more
acceptable but, in my honest opinion, has the same structure:

> **花子は太郎が自分を愛していると信じていた。**  
>  (Hanako wa Tarou ga jibun o aishite iru to shinjite ita.)  
>  Hanako believed that Taro loved her.




I had no difficulty understanding the sentence the way it was intended. It is
definitely not grammatically incorrect. It might just sound more natural, or
easier to read, if 自分 were closer to the verb of which it is the object.

> 妻は私が今でも自分を愛していると信じている。

If the question is whether the sentence is ambiguous, the answer is certainly
yes. But the second sentence is equally ambiguous. I don’t think this
ambiguity has much to do with 自分 because the following sentence is also
ambiguous as to who 彼女 refers to. It could easily be another woman. 自分 at
least avoids the risk of this misunderstanding.

> 妻は私が今でも彼女を愛していると信じている。




I had no difficulty understanding the sentence the way it was intended. It is
definitely not grammatically incorrect. It might just sound more natural, or
easier to read, if 自分 were closer to the verb of which it is the object.

> 妻は私が今でも自分を愛していると信じている。

If the question is whether the sentence is ambiguous, the answer is certainly
yes. But the second sentence is equally ambiguous. I don’t think this
ambiguity has much to do with 自分 because the following sentence is also
ambiguous as to who 彼女 refers to. It could easily be another woman. 自分 at
least avoids the risk of this misunderstanding.

> 妻は私が今でも彼女を愛していると信じている。

