Download - Deixis and Distance
UNIVERSITY OF PRISHTINAFACULTY OF PHILOLOGY
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
DEIXIS AND DISTANCE (MINI-RESEARCH PAPER)
Mentor: Prof.Dr.Linditë Rugova Students: Arbnora Hoti Fllanza Hajrullahu
Prishtinë, 2012
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Table of contents:
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………...…3
2. Deixis and distance …………………………………………………………........6
2.1 Person deixis ……………………………………………………………………..7
2.2 Spatial deixis ………………………………………………………………….....8
2.3 Temporal deixis ………………………………………………………………...10
3. Other categories ………………………………………………………………..12
3.1 Discourse ……………………………………………………………………….12
3.2 Switch reference ………………………………………………………………13
3.3 Social ……………………………………………………………………………13
3.4 T-V distinction ………………………………………………………………….13
3.5 Honorifics ……………………………………………………………………….14
3.6 Anaphoric reference …………………………………………………………...14
3.7 Exophoric reference ……………………………………………………………14
3.8 Homophoric reference………………………………………………………….14
3.9 Endophoric reference ………………………………………………………….14
3.10 Anaphoric reference ………………………………………………………….14
3.11 Cataphoric reference …………………………………………………………15
4. Deictic center ……………………………………………………………………15
5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….16
6. References ………………………………………………………………………18
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Introduction:
In this paper we have tried to describe the term ‘ deixis’ introducing some definitions by
different researchers, we also tried to give some characteristics and examples of ‘deixis’
and then we elaborated the five types of ‘deixis’.
According to Yule the term “Deixis” is derived from Greek word for one of the most
basic things we do with utterances. It means ‘pointing’ via language (1996). It
is done by using deictic expression or indexicals in utterance. Deixis signals a referent
and it relates the referent to a common ground shared by the speaker and the addressee.
Levinson also points out that “Deixis is an important field studied in pragmatics,
semantics and linguistics. It refers to the phenomenon where understanding the meaning
of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information. Words and
phrases that require contextual information to convey any meaninag are deictic “( 1995:
10) 1
Another definition of it is that , “Deixis is an important field of language study in its own
right, but it also has some relevance to the analysis of conversations and pragmatics. It is
often and best described as “verbal pointing”, that is to say pointing by means of
language.”2
The linguistic forms of this pointing are called deictic expressions, deictic markers or
deictic words; they are also sometimes called indexicals.
Deictic expressions fall into three categories:
Person deixis (you, us etc),
Spatial deixis (here, there) and
1 1 http://www.scribd.com/doc/91057052/DEIXIS
2http://www.google.com/
#q=deixis&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&ei=W2KNUOW0B83RsgaA14FI&sqi=2&start=10&sa=N&bav=on
.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d25c19ea07111a8e&bpcl=35466521&biw=1038&bih=642
3
Temporal deixis (now, then).
Deixis is clearly tied to the speaker's context, the most basic distinction being between
near the speaker (proximal) and away from the speaker (distal).
Proximal deictic expressions include this, here and now.
Distal deictic expressions include that, there and then.
Proximal expressions are generally interpreted in relation to the speaker's location or
deictic centre. For example now is taken to mean some point or period in time that
matches the time of the speaker's utterance.
Deictic expressions include such lexemes as:
Personal or possessive pronouns (I/you/mine/yours),
Demonstrative pronouns (this/that),
(Spatial/temporal) adverbs (here/there/now),
Other pro-forms (so/do),
Personal or possessive adjectives (my/your),
Demonstrative adjectives (this/that),
Articles (the).
4
“Deixis generally refers to the world outside a text. Reference to the context surrounding
an utterance is often referred to as primary deixis, exophoric deixis or simply deixis.
Primary deixis is used to point to a situation outside a text (situational deixis) or to the
speaker's and hearer's (shared) knowledge of the world (knowledge deixis).”3
Contextual use of deictic expressions is known as secondary deixis, textual deixis or
endophoric deixis. Such expressions can refer either backwards or forwards to other
elements in a text:
Anaphoric deixis is backward pointing, and is the norm in English texts. Examples
include personal and demonstrative pronouns: he, this, such, said, similar, (the) same.
Cataphoric deixis is forward pointing. Examples include: the following, certain, some
(“the speaker raised some objections...”), this (“Let me say this...”), these, several.
1. Deixis and distance
“Deixis is a technical term (from Greek) for one of the most basic things we do with
utterances. It means “pointing” via language.
Any linguistic form used to accomplish this “pointing” is called a “deictic expression”.
When you notice a strange object and ask, “What is that?”, you are using a deictic
expression (that) to indicate something in the immediate context. Deictic expressions are
also sometimes called indexicals.”4
We have three types of deixis:
3http://www.google.com/
#q=deixis&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&ei=W2KNUOW0B83RsgaA14FI&sqi=2&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or
.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d25c19ea07111a8e&bpcl=35466521&biw=1038&bih=642
4 George Yule, Pragmatics, Oxford University press, 1996, p.10
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1. Person deixis (me, you) that are used to refer to people
2. Spatial deixis (here, there) that are used for locations
3. Temporal deixis (now, then) that are used for time.
“All these expressions depend, for their interpretation, on the speaker and hearer sharing
the same context. Deixis is clearly a form of referring that is tied to the speaker’s context,
with the most basic distinction between deictic expressions being “near speaker” versus
“away from speaker”.
In English, the “near speaker” or proximal terms are this,here, now. The “away from
speaker” or “distal” terms are there, then.”5
Proximal terms are typically interpreted in terms of the speaker’s location, or the deictic
center, so that “now” is generally understood as referring to some point or period in the
time that has the time of the speaker’s utterance at its center.
Distal terms can simply indicate “away from speaker” but, in some languages, can be
used to distinguish between “near addressee” and “away from both speaker and
addressee”.
1.1 Person deixis
“To learn these deictic expressions, we have to discover that each person in a
conversation shifts from being “I” to being “you” constantly. All young children go
through a stage in their learning where this distinction seems problematic and they say
things like “Read you a story” (instead of me, when handing over a favourite book.)”6
Person deixis operates on a basic three part devision, exemplified by the pronouns for the
first person (I) second person (you) and third person (he, she, it). In many other languages
these deictic categories of the speaker depend on the relative social status of the people
5 George Yule, Pragmatics, Oxford University press, 1996, p.10
6 George Yule, Pragmatics, Oxford University press, 1996, p.11
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(higher versus lower status). Expressions which indicate higher status are described as
honorifics. These forms are otherwise called social deixis aswell. There is another
category of personal deixis that comes from the destinction between the familiar versus
non-familiar addressee in some languages. This is known as the T/V distinction, from the
French forms “tu”(familiar) and “vous” (non-familiar) and is found in many languages
including German (du/Sie) and Spanish (tu/Usted).
In those social contexts where individuals typically mark distinctions between the social
status of the speaker and addressee, the higher older and more powerful speaker will tend
to use “tu” version to a lower, younger and less powerful addressee, and be addressed by
the “vous” form in return. When social change is taking place, as for example in modern
Spain, where a young businesswoman (higher economic status) is talking to her older
cleaning lady (lower economic status), how do they address each other? I am told that the
age distinction remains more powerful than the economic distinction and the older
woman uses “tu” and the younger uses “Usted”.
Third person pronouns are consequently distal forms in terms of person deixis. Using a
third person form, where a second person form would be possible, is one way of
communicating distance (and non-familiarity) for example:
1. Would his highness like some coffee?
2. a. Somebody didn’t clean up after himself.
2. b. Each person has to clean up after him or herself.
To make the potential less direct as the example (2a) shows or to make a potentially
personal issue seem like an impersonal one, based on a general role as in (2b).
For general rules we can use the form “we” aswell, like: We clean up after ourselves
around here. “
In English, there are two types of “we”. There is the exclusive “we” (speaker plus
other(s), excluding the addressee, and inclusive “we” (speaker and addressee included).
The inclusive-exclusive distinction may also be noted in the difference between saying
“Let’s go” (to some friends) and “Let us go” (To some who has countered the speaker
and friends).
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1.2 Spatial Deixis
“The concept of distance is considered relevant to spatial deixis , whenever relative
location of things is being indicated. Contemporary English uses only two adverbs: here
and there. There are also some verbs of motion, such as come and go, which retain a
deictic sense when they are used to mark movement toward the speaker, for example,
Come to my room, or away from the speaker, as in Go to my room .”7
The location, from the speaker’s perspective, can be fixed mentally as well as physically.
Speakers temporally away from their home location will often continue to use here to
mean the home location, as if they still were in that location. It is described as deictic
projection and we can make more use of its possibilities when technology allows us to
manipulate location. If here means the place of the speaker’s utterance, and now means
the time of this utterance, a sentence like: “I am not here now” on an aswering machine
should be nonsense.
“The basis of spatial deixis is often psychological distance (rather than physical distance).
Usually physical and (metaphorical) psychological distance will appear the same. But a
speaker may wish to mark something physically close as psychologically distant, as when
you indicate an item of food on your plate with “I don't like that”.”8
Contemporary English makes use of only two adverbs, here and there, for the basic
distinction, but in older texts and in some dialects, a much larger set of deictic
expressions can be found. Although “yonder” (more distant from speaker) is still used,
words like “hither” (to this place) and thence (from that place) now sound archaic. These
last two adverbs include the meaning of motion toward or away from the speaker (here,
7 George Yule, Pragmatics, Oxford University press, 1996, p. 12
8http://www.google.com/
#q=deixis&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&ei=W2KNUOW0B83RsgaA14FI&sqi=2&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or
.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d25c19ea07111a8e&bpcl=35466521&biw=1038&bih=642
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there). Some verbs of motion, such as “come” and “go” retain a deictic sense when they
are used to mark movement toward the speaker (come to bed) or away (Go to bed).
In considering spatial deixis, however, it is important to remember that location from the
speaker’s perspective can be fixed mentally as well as physically. Speakers temporary
away from their home location will often continue to use “here” to mean the (physically
distant) home location, as if they were still in that location. Speakers also seem to be able
to project themselves into other locations prior to actually being in those locations, as
when they say: “I’ll come later”, (movement to addressee’s location). This is somewhere
described as deictic projection. If here means the place of the speaker’s utterance, than
an utterance such as: “I am not here now”, should be nonsense.
However, I can say this into the recorder of a telephone answering machine, projecting
that I am not there at the moment that somebody is trying to phone me at that moment
and not at the moment of speaking.
It may be that the truly pragmatic basis of spatial deixis is actually psychological
distance. Physically close objects will tend to be treated by the speaker as psychologically
generally be treated as psychologically distant (for ex. That man over there.)
Similar psychological processes seem to be at work in our distinctions between proximal
and distal expressions used to mark temporal deixis.
1.3 Temporal deixis
According to Fillmore (1966), time, or temporal, deixis concerns itself with the various
times involved in and referred to in an utterance. This includes time adverbs like "now",
"then", "soon", and so forth, and also different tenses. A good example is the
word tomorrow, which denotes the consecutive next day after every day. The "tomorrow"
of a day last year was a different day from the "tomorrow" of a day next week. Time
adverbs can be relative to the time when an utterance is made (what Fillmore calls the
"encoding time", or ET) or when the utterance is heard (Fillmore’s "decoding time", or
DT). While these are frequently the same time, they can differ, as in the case of
prerecorded broadcasts or correspondence. For example, if one were to write
It is raining out now, but I hope when you read this it will be sunny.
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the ET and DT would be different, with the former deictic term concerning ET and the
latter the DT.
Tenses are generally separated into absolute (deictic) and relative tenses. So, for example,
simple English past tense is absolute, such as in
He went.
while the pluperfect is relative to some other deictically specified time, as in
He had gone.
In temporal deixis Fillmore (1966 ) also discussed about tenses . Tenses are time
relations in connection to a given point in time. We can distinguish :
as an event/action simultaneously to the speech act ( work )
as an event/ action before the speech act ( worked )
as an event/action after the speech act ( you will work )
“In contrast to now, the distal expression then can be used with both past and future time.
For example:
Last Saturday night? I was at home with a friend then.
Theater at 7 p.m. on Saturday? Okay, I’ll meet you there then.
We also use systems of non-deictic temporal reference such as calendar and clock time.
However, these forms of temporal reference are learned a lot later than the deictic
expressions, such as yesterday, tonight, this week, next week. To interpret all these
expressions, we have to know the time of the utterance. Otherwise, in the case of the
following sentences, for example, we wouldn’t know if we have a short or a long wait
ahead:
I’ll be back in an hour.
Free beer tomorrow.
Also verb tense indication is considered a type of temporal deixis in English.
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I live in Santa Maria (presently).
I lived in Cruz Alta (in the past).
The present tense is considered the proximal form and the past tense the distal form.”9
Something that took place in the past, or that is extremely unlikely from the speaker’s
current situation is marked via the distal (past tense).
Psychological distance can apply to temporal deixis as well. We can treat temporal events
as things that move towards us (into view) or away from us (out of view).
For instance, we speak of the coming year or the approaching year. This may stem from
our perception of things which we see approaching both spatially and in time. We treat
the near or immediate future as being close to utterance time by using the proximal
deictic expression this, as in “this (that is the next) weekend” or “this evening” (said
earlier in the day).
The form now indicates both the time coinciding with the speaker’s utterance and the
time of the speaker’s voice being heard (the hearer’s “now”). In contrast to “Now” the
distal expression “then” applies to both past and future, time relative to the speaker’s
present time.
2. Other categories
Though the traditional categories of deixis are perhaps the most obvious, there are other
types of deixis that are similarly pervasive in language use. These categories of deixis
were first discussed by Fillmore and Lyons.
9http://www.google.com/
#q=deixis&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&ei=W2KNUOW0B83RsgaA14FI&sqi=2&start=10&sa=N&bav=on
.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d25c19ea07111a8e&bpcl=35466521&biw=1038&bih=642
http://www.scribd.com/doc/91057052/DEIXIS
11
2.1 Discourse
Discourse deixis, also referred to as text deixis, and refers to the use of expressions
within an utterance to refer to parts of the discourse that contains the utterance—
including the utterance itself. For example, in
This is a great story.
“this” refers to an upcoming portion of the discourse, and in
That was an amazing day.
“that” refers to a prior portion of the discourse.
Distinction must be made between discourse deixis and anaphora, which is when an
expression makes reference to the same referent as a prior term, as in
Matthew is an incredible athlete; he came in first in the race.
Lyons points out that it is possible for an expression to be both deictic and anaphoric at
the same time. In his example
I was born in London and I have lived here/there all my life.
“here” or “there” function anaphorically in their reference to London, and deictically in
that the choice between “here” or “there” indicates whether the speaker is or is not
currently in London.
The rule of thumb to distinguish the two phenomena is as follows: when an expression
refers to another linguistic expression or a piece of discourse, it is discourse deictic.
When that expression refers to the same item as a prior linguistic expression, it is
anaphoric.
2.2 Switch reference is a type of discourse deixis, and a grammatical feature found in
some languages, which indicates whether the argument of one clause is the same as the
argument of the previous clause. In some languages, this is done through same subject
markers and different subject markers. In the translated example "John punched Tom,
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and left-[same subject marker]," it is John who left, and in "John punched Tom, and left-
(different subject marker)," it is Tom who left.
2.3 Social
Social deixis concerns the social information that is encoded within various expressions,
such as relative social status and familiarity. Two major forms of it are the so-called T-V
distinctions and honorifics.
2.4 T-V distinction
T-V distinctions, named for the Latin “tu” and “vous” (singular and plural versions of
“you”) are the name given to the phenomenon when a language has two different second-
person pronouns. The varying usage of these pronouns indicates something about
formality, familiarity, and/or solidarity between the interactants. So, for example, the T
form might be used when speaking to a friend or social equal, whereas the V form would
be used speaking to a stranger or social superior. This phenomenon is common in
European languages.
2.5 Honorifics
Honorifics are a much more complex form of social deixis than T-V distinctions, though
they encode similar types of social information. They can involve words being marked
with various morphemes as well as nearly entirely different lexicons being used based on
the social status of the interactants. This type of social deixis is found in a variety of
languages, but is especially common in South and East Asia.
2.6 Anaphoric reference
Generally speaking, anaphora refers to the way in which a word or phrase relates to other
text:
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2.7 An exophoric reference refers to language outside of the text in which the
reference is found.
2.8 A homophoric reference is a generic phrase that obtains a specific meaning
through knowledge of its context. For example, the meaning of the phrase "the
Queen" may be determined by the country in which it is spoken. Because there are many
Queens throughout the world, the location of the speaker provides the extra information
that allows an individual Queen to be identified.
2.9 An endophoric reference refers to something inside of the text in which the
reference is found.
2.10 An anaphoric reference, when opposed to cataphora, refers to something
within a text that has been previously identified. For example, in "Susan dropped the
plate. It shattered loudly" the word "it" refers to the phrase "the plate".
2.11 A cataphoric reference refers to something within a text that has not yet been
identified. For example, in "He was very cold. David promptly put on his coat" the
identity of the "he" is unknown until the individual is also referred to as "David".
3. Deictic center
“A deictic center, sometimes referred to as an origo, is a set of theoretical points that a
deictic expression is ‘anchored’ to, such that the evaluation of the meaning of the
expression leads one to the relevant point. As deictic expressions are frequently
egocentric, the center often consists of the speaker at the time and place of the utterance,
and additionally, the place in the discourse and relevant social factors. However, deictic
expressions can also be used in such a way that the deictic center is transferred to other
participants in the exchange, or to persons / places / etc. being described in a
narrative. So, for example, in the sentence:
I’m standing here now.
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The deictic center is simply the person at the time and place of speaking. But say two
people are talking on the phone long-distance, from London to New York. The Londoner
can say
We are going to New York next week.
in which case the deictic center is in London, or they can equally validly say
We are coming to New York next week.
in which case the deictic center is in New York. Similarly, when telling a story about
someone, the deictic center is likely to switch to them. So then in the sentence
He then ran twenty feet to the left.
it is understood that the center is with the person being spoken of, and thus, "to the left"
refers not to the speaker’s left, but to the object of the story’s left, that is, the person
referred to as 'he' at the time immediately before he ran twenty feet.”10
Conclusion10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deixis
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From this paper we could see what deixis are. They are often mixed with the word
reference, even though they are a part of it. Deixis can mainly be found as part of the
demonstrative references, because their function is to show here and there, near and far
and to substitute people with personal pronouns.
In some of the examples we could see that deixis and grammar have both to do with the
direct and indirect speech, where I becomes you and here becomes there, and now
becomes then.
We dealt with three main categories of deixis, which were:
1. Person deixis (you, us etc.) which are used for persons
2. Spatial deixis (here, there) which are used for locations
3. Temporal deixis (now, then) which are used to express the time.
Deictic expressions include such lexemes as:
Personal or possessive pronouns (I/you/mine/yours),
Demonstrative pronouns (this/that),
(Spatial/temporal) adverbs (here/there/now),
Other pro-forms (so/do),
Personal or possessive adjectives (my/your),
Demonstrative adjectives (this/that),
Articles (the).
16
Deixis generally refers to the world outside a text. Reference to the context surrounding
an utterance is often referred to as primary deixis, exophoric deixis or simply deixis.
Primary deixis is used to point to a situation outside a text (situational deixis) or to the
speaker's and hearer's (shared) knowledge of the world (knowledge deixis).
17
References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deixis
2. G. Yule, Pragmatics, Oxford University press, 1996
3. http://www.igewem.tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/fakultaeten/
philosophische_fakultaet/iph/thph/braeuer/lehre/bezugnahme_relevanz/Nunberg
%20-%20IndexicalsandDeixis.pdf
4. http://www.google.com/
#q=deixis&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&ei=W2KNUOW0B83RsgaA14FI&sqi=2&star
t=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=d25c19ea07111a8e&bpcl=354665
21&biw=1038&bih=642
5. M. A.K Halliday, R. Hasan, Cohesion in English, Longman Group Ltd, 1976
6. http://www.scribd.com/doc/91057052/DEIXIS
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