Deixis

DEIXIS

DEIXISDeixis, a term which is derived from

the Greek word δεῖξις (meaning “pointing”)

It is the location and identification of persons, objects, events, processes and activities being talked about, or referred to in relation to the spatiotemporal context created and sustained by the act of utterance and the participation in it, typically, of a single speaker and at least one addressee. (Lyons 1977:637)

DEIXIS

SP

pronouns tensesdemonstratives

T adverbialsP

adverbials

verbs

DEIXIS

1. I prefer apples to oranges 2. I’ll see you there/then 3. Besides, she is a very nice person

Deictic Expressions

Deictic Non-deictic

Gestural Symbolic

DEICTIC vs NON-DEICTIC

DEICTICS are expressions that have a deictic usage as basic or central

NON-DEICTICS are expressions that do not have such a usage as basic or central

DEICTIC vs NON-DEICTIC

You, and you, but not you, go back to your dorms! (deitic)

Mary wishes that she could visit the land of Lilliput. (non-deictic)

If you travel on a train without a valid ticket, you will be liable to pay a penalty fare.

(non-deictic)She’s not the principal; she is. She’s the secretary.

(deictic)

DEICTIC vs NON-DEICTIC

GESTURAL vs SYMBOLIC

GESTURAL can properly be interpreted only by a direct, moment by moment monitoring of some physical aspects of speech event.

SYMBOLIC involves knowing the basic spatiotemporal parameter or speech event

You, and you, but not you, go back to your dorms! (gestural)

This town is famous for its small antique shops. (symbolic)

GESTURAL vs SYMBOLIC

DEICTIC CENTER

DEICTIC CENTER Deixis is organized in an egocentric way (Lyons 1977: 646). In fact, Russel (1905) called deictic terms egocentric particulars. The reason is that deixis is organized relative to specific parameters of the communicative event that place the speaker as the center of deixis.

DEICTIC CENTER

DEICTIC CENTER&DEICTIC CATEGORIES

The default deictic center, or deictic origo (ground zero) in the terminology of Buhler (1934), of the 3 major categories is the following:o PERSON DEIXIS the central

anchorage point is the person who is speaking

o for TIME DEIXIS is the time at which the speaker produces the utterance

DEICTIC CENTER&DEICTIC CATEGORIES

for PLACE DEIXIS is the place where the speaker produces the utterance

I-HERE-NOW

DISCOURSE DEIXIS is defined in terms of the text section in which the utterance containing the deictic element occurs

SOCIAL DEIXIS is defined in terms of the speaker’s social status to which that of the addressee is relative

DEICTIC CENTER&DEICTIC CATEGORIES

DEICTIC PROJECTIONThe “egocentric” organization of

deixis is not always adhered to, which gives rise to what Lyons (1977: 579) called deictic projection.o Can I go to your office tomorrow at

12:00? (has no deictic projection)o Can I come to your office tomorrow

at 12:00? (has deictic projection)

CATEGORIES OF DEIXISPERSON DEIXIS

Person deixis is concerned with the identification of interlocutor or participant-roles in a speech event. It is commonly expressed by:

personal pronouns, and if relevant, their associated predicate agreements

Vocatives (kinship terms, titles and proper names and in combination of these)

PERSON DEIXISPERSONAL PRONOUNS/DISTINCTION

First Person- grammaticalization of the speaker’s reference to –him or herself, that is, participant role with speaker inclusion [+S]

Second Person- encoding of the speaker’s reference to one or more addressees, that is, the participant role with addressee inclusion [+A]

Third Person- grammaticalization of reference to persons or entities which are neither speaker nor addressee, that is, participant-role and addressee exclusion [-S,-A]

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

First PersonI am ill.

Second PersonShe is ill.

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/NUMBERTwo most common number

systems are:1. Singular-Plural

woman- women2. Singular-Dual-Plural

‘anta-’antumaa-’antum

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/NUMBERPlural of the first person

does not mean the same as plural of the third person. For example in English, “WE” does not mean plural speakers in the same way that “THEY” means more than one third person entity (Levinson 1983: 69)

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/NUMBERMany of the world’s

languages have two non-singular first person pronouns, one meaning “we-inclusive-of-addressee” and the other meaning “we-exclusive-of-addressee”

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/NUMBER“WE-INCLUSIVE-OF-ADDRESSEE “

1. We can go all to the villain’s lair today.

“WE-EXCLUSIVE-OF-ADDRESSEE”1. We mean to stop your evil plans.

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/GENDERIn all languages with pronominal

gender marking, gender can be distinguished on third person, where commonly two (masculine, feminine) or three (masculine, feminine, neuter) genders may be identified ; in some, gender assignments can also be for second person; in few, gender can be marked on first person as well (e.g Greenberg 1963; 96, Anderson and Keenan 1985; 269)

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSONAL PRONOUNS/GENDERFurthermore, with regard to

person-gender marking, languages tend to encode more gender distinctions in the singular than the plural. ((e.g Greenberg 1963; 96, Anderson and Keenan 1985; 269)

And English language confirms this (third-person singular: M:he, F:she, N:it ; third-person plural: they)

PERSON DEIXISPERSON DEIXIS

VOCATIVESVocatives are NP’s that refer to the addressee, but form no part of an of the arguments of a predicate. Vocatives in general are grouped into two types: calls or summonses; and addresses

PERSON DEIXIS

VOCATIVESCalls/Summonses1. Hey, daddy, look, a spider in

the corner!2. John, if we don’t leave now,

we’ll be late for our next appointment.

3. Doctor Williams, do you think I need a blood test?

PERSON DEIXIS

PERSON DEIXISVOCATIVESAddresses1. I am afraid, Sir, we are closing.2. Do you fancy going to a

concert of African music, Lucy?3. My view, Dean, is that we

should set up a new department of linguistics.

TIME DEIXISTIME DEIXIS is concerned with the

encoding of temporal points and spans relative to the time at which an utterance is produced in a speech event.

Two Distinct Ways of Representing the Passage of Time:1. Time as constant and world as moving

through time from past into the future (the years ahead)

2. World as stable and time as flowing through the world from future to past (the coming years)

CALENDRICAL vs. NON-CALENDRICALCalendrical- the time measure

periods a fixed length sequence of naturally given units.

Example: July Non-Calendrical- time measure periods are used only as units of measure relative to some fixed points of interest.

Example: Fortnight

TIME DEIXIS

CODING TIME vs. RECEIVING TIMECoding Time- the moment of

utteranceReceiving Time- the moment of

receptionUnder normal circumstances,

assuming the default deictic center, RT can be taken to be identical to CT; in this case, we have what Lyons (1977: 685) called deictic simultaneity.

TIME DEIXIS

In these cases, the speaker has to decide whether the deictic center will remain on the speaker and CT, or will be shifted to the addressee and RT (Levinson 1983: 73-4, Fillmore 1997: 67-8)1. This interview is being recorded

today, Wednesday 3 July, to be relayed on Sunday 7 July.

2. This interview was recorded last Wednesday, 3 July, to be relayed today, Sunday 7 July.

TIME DEIXIS

TIME DEIXIS is commonly grammaticalized in: (1) deictic adverbs of time (2) tense

DEICTIC ADVERBS OF TIME- Now and Then are the two pure noun deictics which Anderson and Keenan (1985: 297) called temporal demonstratives.

TIME DEIXIS

PROXIMAL vs. DISTAL (Now&Then)Now designates Proximal Time, and following Levinson (1983: 74) it can be given (time) span including CT.

Then refers to Distal Time and can be reduced to meaning ‘not now’. It can indicated time either in the past or in the future.

TIME DEIXIS

DIURNAL SPANS (Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday)Today can be glossed as ‘the diurnal span including CT’

Tomorrow can be glossed as ‘the diurnal span following today’

Yesterday can be glossed as ‘the diurnal span preceding today

TIME DEIXIS

(NowThen and Today/Tomorrow/Yesterday)

1. Start the engine now!2. John is now working as a

government’s spin-doctor.3. Yesterday was a public

holiday.

TIME DEIXIS

TENSETense can be distinguished between the following:1. METALINGUISTIC TENSE (M-

tense) means the theoretical category of tense

2. LIGUISTIC TENSE (L-tense) means the linguistic realization of M-tense

TIME DEIXIS

SPACE DEIXISSPACE DEIXIS is concerned with the specification of location in space relative to that of the participants at CT in a speech event.FRAMES OF SPATIAL REFERENCE, coined by the Gestalt theorist, are coordinate systems used to compute and specify the locations of the objects with respect to other objects. Cross-linguistically, there are 3 linguistic frames of reference to express spatial relationships between the entity (referent/figure) and the landmark (ground).

FRAME OF REFERENCE1. INTRINSIC-based on object-centered coordinates, which are determined by the ‘inherit features’ such as the sideness or facets of the object to be used as ground2. RELATIVE- based on a tenary spacial relation between a viewpoint, and a figure and a ground.3. ABSOLUTE- based on a coordinate system, but one that is an absolute coordinates like NEWS.

SPACE DEIXIS

1. The dog is behind the car. (intrinsic)

2. The dog is to the left of the car. (relative)

3. The dog is (to the) east of the car. (absolute)

SPACE DEIXIS

GRAMMATICALIZATION1. Demonstratives2. Deictics adverb of space3. Deictically marked third-

person pronouns4. Verbal affixes of motion

and verbs of motion

SPACE DEIXIS

DEMONSTRATIVES&DEICTICS ADVERB OF SPACE- Parameters:1. Distance2. Visibility3. Elevation4. Side(Hanks: 1992, Agha:1996, Maning:2001)

SPACE DEIXIS

DEMONSTRATIVES&DEICTICS ADVERB OF SPACE- Parameter:

DISTANCEOne Term System- German and FrenchTwo Term System- Proximal and DistalThree Term System- Proximal, Medial, DistalFour Term System- (Samal) close to speaker, close to addressee, close to audience, away from all aforementioned

SPACE DEIXIS

DEMONSTRATIVES&DEICTICS ADVERB OF SPACE- Parameter:VISIBILITY(Imai:2003)1. Invisible remote- out of sight and far

from the speaker2. Invisible occlusion- refers to entities

that are behind an obstacle3. Invisible periphery- out of sight but

audible and/ or olfactory

SPACE DEIXIS

DEMONSTRATIVES&DEICTICS ADVERB OF SPACE- Parameter:ELEVATION

Elevation is the physical dimension of height relative to the deictic center, typically the speaker (Hyslop:1993, Diessel:1999)Examples: down/downwards, up/upwards

SPACE DEIXIS

DEICTICALLY MARKED THIRD PERSON PRONOUNS1. near 2. far3. remote----4. Proximity to the speaker’s front or side5. Proximity to the speaker’s back6. Remoteness anywhere from the speaker----7. Near8. Mid-distant9. Distant10. Not visible

SPACE DEIXIS

DEICTIC DIRECTIONALS1. Kinetic or deictic motion

affixes, morphemes, particles

2. Deictic motion verbs

SPACE DEIXIS

DEICTIC DIRECTIONALSTwo Deictic Directional Verbal Prefixes(In Abaza)1. indicates that movement denoted

by the verb is directed towards the speaker’s location or CT

2. Indicates that it is directed away from the speaker’s location or CT

Examples:3. Come this way.4. Go away.

SPACE DEIXIS

DIRECTIONAL MARKERS1. Movement towards the speaker’s

location at CT2. Movement towards the speaker’s

location at arrival time3. Movement towards the addressee’s

location at CT4. Movement towards the addressee’s

location at arrival time5. Movement towards the home base

maintained at CT by either the speaker or the addressee

SPACE DEIXIS

DIRECTIONAL MARKERS

1. John will come to the library next week

SPACE DEIXIS

SOCIAL DEIXISSOCIAL DEIXIS

Social Deixis is concerned with the codification of the social status of the speaker, the addressee, or the third person or entity referred to, as well as social relationships holding between them (see, e.g., Levinson 1983: 63, Anderson and Keenan 1985, Fillmore 1997: 111-12, Manning 2001)Two Types (Comrie 1976, Levinson 1983: 90-1, Brown and Levinson 1987)1. absolute2. relational

ABSOLUTE vs RELATIONALAbsolute information in social

deixis can be illustrated by forms that are reserved for authorized speakers or authorized recipients

Relational information in social deixis are reserved for authorized recipients, restrictions are placed on most titles of addressees

SOCIAL DEIXIS

ABSOLUTE vs RELATIONAL

Zhen- (reserved for the emperor to refer himself in imperial China) [absolute]

Mr. President- [relational]

SOCIAL DEIXIS

RELATIONAL SOCIAL DEIXISFour Axes1. Speaker and referent (referent

honorifics)- are forms employed by the speaker to show respect towards the referent

2. Speaker and addressee (addressee honorifics)- are forms that used by the speakers to show difference towards the addressee

SOCIAL DEIXIS

RELATIONAL SOCIAL DEIXISFour Axes3. Speaker and bystander (bystander honorifics)- are forms used by the speaker to signify respect to a bystander, including participants in the role of audience and non-participant overhearers4. Speaker and setting (level of formality)- relation between the speaker and the speech event

SOCIAL DEIXIS

EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL DEIXISPersonal Pronouns/ Marking of RespectT/V Distinction (Brown and Gilman 1960)1. Familiar or T2. Polite or V

SOCIAL DEIXIS

EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL DEIXISForms of Address1. First name (James)2. Last Name (Bond)3. Combination (James Bond)4. Kinship Terms (uncle)5. Titles borrowed from names of occupations

(doctor)6. Ranks in certain social/professional groups

(colonel)7. Combination of titles and names (Professor

Sirn John Lyons)8. Others (Madam)

SOCIAL DEIXIS

EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL DEIXISAffixes, Clitics, Particles(Korean)1. (-na) marking intimate2. (-e) familiar3. (-ta) plain 4. (-eyo) polite5. (-supnita) deferential6. (-so) authoritative(Trudgill 2000: 93)

SOCIAL DEIXIS

EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL DEIXISAffixes Attached To Verbs To Indicate Social Relations As:1. Intimacy2. Neutral or somewhat formal3. Respect4. compradrazgo

SOCIAL DEIXIS

Discourse Deixis is concerned with the use of a linguistic expression within some utterance to point the current, preceding or following utterances in the same spoken or written discourse. Alternatively, discourse deixis can be said to refer to propositions (Lyons 1977, Webber 1991, Grenoble 1994, Herring 1994, Fillmore 1997: 103-6, Diessel 1999: 101)

DISCOURSE DEIXIS

1. This is how birds evolved from predatory dinosaurs.

2. That is tonight’s evening news.3. Here goes the main argument.4. In the last section, we discussed

conversational implicature, in this section, we consider conventional implicature, and in the next section, we shall compare and contrast them.

5. As already mentioned, the three main branches of legal profession in England are solicitors, barristers, and legal executives.

DISCOURSE DEIXIS