Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
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particular context.) Comment So far, all of our examples of deictic terms have been referring expressions, like you, here, and today, or modi fiers which can be used with referring expressions, like the demonstrative this. Such deictic terms help the hearer to identify the referent of a referring expression through its spatial or temporal relationship with the situation of utterance. There are also a few predicates which have a deictic ingredient. Example The verb come has a deictic ingredient, because it contains the notion ‘toward the speaker’. Practice Look at the following utterances and decide whether the speaker gives any indication of his location (Yes), and if so, where he is (or isn’t): (1) ‘Go to the hospital’ Yes / No............................................................................................................. (2) ‘The astronauts are going back to Earth’ Yes / No............................................................................................................. (3) ‘Please don’t bring food into the bathroom’ Yes / No............................................................................................................. (4) ‘Can you take this plate into the kitchen for me?’ Yes / No............................................................................................................. Feedback (1) Yes: not at the hospital (2) Yes: not on Earth (3) Yes: in the bathroom (4) Yes: not in the kitchen Comment Some examples involve a ‘psychological shifting’ of the speaker’s view-point for the purpose of interpreting one of the deictic terms. Practice (1) If I say to you, ‘Come over there, please!’ while pointing to a far corner of the room (i.e. far from both of us), could you reasonably infer that I intend to move to that corner of the room as well? Yes / No PA RT T WO From reference . . . 68 (2) In this instance, would it seem correct to say that the speaker is anticipating his future location when he uses the word come (i.e. is come in this case ‘stretched’ to include ‘toward where the speaker will be’)? Yes / No (3) If I say to you, over the telephone, ‘Can I come and see you some time?’ do I probably have in mind a movement to the place where I am, or to the place where you are? .......................................................................................................................... Feedback (1) Yes (2) Yes (3) the place where you are Comment This psychological shifting of viewpoint just illustrated is an example of the flexibility with which deictic terms can be interpreted. In our definition of deixis, ‘time of utterance’ and ‘place of utterance’ must generally be taken very flexibly. Sometimes these are interpreted very broadly, and sometimes very narrowly and strictly. In addition to deictic words (such as here, now, come, and bring), there are in English and other languages certain grammatical devices called tenses for indicating past, present, and future time, which must also be regarded as deictic, because past, present, and future times are de fined by reference to the time of utterance. Practice (1) If Matthew said (truthfully) ‘Mummy, Rosemary hit me’, when did Rosemary hit Matthew, before, at, or after the time of Matthew’s utterance? .......................................................................................................................... (2) If Matthew (truthfully) says, ‘Mummy, Rosemary is writing on the living room wall’, when is Rosemary committing this misdemeanour, before, at, or after the time of Matthew’s utterance? .......................................................................................................................... (3) If I say (truthfully) ‘I’m going to write a letter to the President’, when do I write to the President? .......................................................................................................................... (4) In each of the following utterances, what can you deduce about the date of the utterance? (a) ‘I first met my wife in the year 1993’ ................................................................................................................ (b) ‘The 1936 Olympic Games will be held in Berlin’ ................................................................................................................ |