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?
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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?
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(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?
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(3) If I say (truthfully) ‘I’m going to write a letter to the President’, when do
I write to the President?
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(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’
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(b)
‘The 1936 Olympic Games will be held in Berlin’
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