The use of a word or phrase whose meaning depends on who is talking, who they are talking to, where they are.
HOLA
SOY SARAH
adiós
SI
DEFINITION
Deixis (Greek): ‘deiktikos ’ via language’
Deictic expression = indexical: any linguistic form used to accomplish this ‘pointing’
Deixis is tied to the speaker’s context with diectic expressions.
‘ near speaker ’
Proximal terms
This
Here
Now
‘away from speaker’
Distal terms
That
There
Then
números
maestro
saber
no
Deixis
person
to indicate people
spatial
to indicate location
temporal
to indicate time
PERSON DEIXIS Persons involved in an utterance ● the speaker
I
● the addressee
you
● other persons and entities
(neither speaker nor addressee)
He she it they
we
EXAMPLES 1. I am going to have dinner.
2. Would you like to have dinner?
These three deictic categories are elaborated with markers of relative social status.
Honorifics Expressions indicate higher status
Social deixis The T/V distinction
Familiar addressee (informal)
tu
tú
du
Non-familiar addressee (formal)
vous
Usted
Sie
other persons and entities (3rd person) ◊ distance and non-familiarity
◊ an ironic or humorous purpose
Would his highness like some coffee?
◊ potential accusations => less direct
You didn’t clean up after himself.
◊ make an impersonal issue.
You have to clean up after him or herself.
Somebody didn’t clean up after himself.
Each person has to clean up after him or herself.
other persons and entities (3rd person) ◊ state general ‘rules’
We clean up after ourselves around here.
exclusive inclusive => AMBIGUITY Spatial deixis where the relative location of people and objects are being indicated (Giergji, 2015) ● The speaker’s purposes: - Identifying entities
: demonstrative pronouns
this/ these that/ those
- Informing about location of an entity
: adverbs
here/ there
, prepositions
above/ below
- Acknowleging location of an entity
: verbs
come/ go
Spatial deictic system
Proximal (near speaker) Distal (away from speaker) this, these, here, come, …
that, those, there, go, …
EXAMPLES 1. I enjoy living in this city.
2. Here is where we met last month.
3. Nancy came into the classroom.
4. Nancy went into the classroom.
Location from the speaker perspective can be fixed:
physically
mentally
psychological
eg. Go to bed, son.
“Go” is used to mark movement away from the speaker
Mentally : speakers are able to project themselves into other locations, which is sometimes called deictic projection.
Some kinds of deictic projection. + before being in those locations eg. 'I'll come later’
+ in the required location for future audience eg. “I am not here now”