deixis

PRAGMATICS

Group 1 Tran Duc Anh Nguyen Thi Hang Tran T.Thu Hong Tran Thi Thai Nguyen T. Thu Thao

OUTLINE

1. Definition

2. Distance

3. Deictic centre

4. Types of deixis

5. Deictic projection

6. Physical & psychological distance

7. Deixis elements

I. Some terms

- Deixis : technical term for one of the most

basic things we do with utterances pointing

via language.

Ex: I will meet you here this afternoon at 3

the phenomenon whereby the reference

of certain expressions can not be

determined without knowing to the extra

linguistic context of the utterance ( who

utters it , where, when)

- Deictic expression : any linguistic form used to

accomplish this “ pointing”

Ex: When you notice st / person strange & ask :

“ who’s that?” / “ what’s that?”

- Depend, for their expression, on the speaker

and hearer sharing the same context.

Ex: I will put this here

I will bring that to you –> out of

context will be unintelligible.

- Indexicals :

* Similarity :

- both concern essentially the same idea ; - contextually-dependant references.

• Differences :

- Histories and traditions.

- Each is associated with a different field of study

+) Deixis is associated with linguistics,

+) Indexicality is associated with philosophy.

near interchangeably to deictic expression

V. RELATION: DISTANCE AND

DEIXIS

Proximal (near)

Here, this , now

Person

Place

Time

Deixis

- Make accusations less direct/ make potential personal issue impersonal:

Ex: Somebody didn’t clean up after himself. Each person has to clean up after himself

or herself.

Distance --- person deixis Distance --- person deixis

3rd person pro

Distal form

3rd person pro

Distal form

-1st and 2nd person pro

Proximal

DISTANCE - SPATIAL DEIXISDISTANCE - SPATIAL DEIXIS

The movement relative to the speaker’s position.

Example:

“ Here she comes!” moving towards you “There she goes!” she is moving away from

you.

Proximal

Here, this, come

Distal

There, that, go,

Time relative to the speaker’s present time

Then Now then

Distance - temporal deixis

Proximal

-“now”, present tense

e.g. I live here now.

Distal

-“then”, past tens, future

+ 1988? I was in London then.

+ 8:15 on Saturday?

Ok, I’ll see you then.

.

Temporal event things that move towards or

away from us.

Ex: + the coming year / the approaching

year/ this weekend/ this evening

+ the past week

Distance - temporal deixis

III. DEICTIC CENTER

refer to some points of period in time and place of the speaker’s utterance as its center.

Eg: + back in an hour+free beer tomorrow+ I’m here now

DEICTIC CENTER (CONT)

Can be transferred to other participants in the exchange, or to person/place being described in a narrative

shift deictic center (deictic projection)Eg: a Londoner vs a New Yorker on phone

the Londoner: we are going to NY next weekor

we are coming to NY next week

CLASSIFICATION OF DEIXIS 1. Person deixis: point a person (me, you, him, them)

2. Spatial deixis: point to a location (here, there)

3. Temporal deixis: point to a time (now, then, tonight, last week, yesterday)

1. PERSON DEIXIS:

A speech event includes at least two persons + 1st person = speaker + 2nd person = addressee => There may be a 3rd personDeictic pronouns

+ speaker: I, my, mine

+ addressee: You, your, yours

+ other: he, she, it, this, that, those, these, somebody...

PERSON DEIXIS (CONT.)

Makers of relative social status ( honorifics)

+ Higher status vs lower status

+ Familiar vs non familiar

Ex: tu – vous Using 3rd person form instead of 2nd person form:

Ex: 1.Would his highness like some coffee?

2.Somebody didn’t clean up after himself.

3.Each person has to clean up after himself or herself.

PERSON DEIXIS (CONT.):

Ambiguity: using 1st person plural ‘we’ Ex: We clean up after ourselves around here => 2 different interpretations: + inclusive ‘we’: speaker and addressee included + exclusive ‘we’: speaker plus other(s), excluding

addressee Inclusive-exclusive distinction Ex: Let’s go to the cinema = ‘we-inclusive-of-addressee’ Let’s go to see you tomorrow = ‘we-exclusive-of-addressee’

2. SPATIAL DEIXIS:

basic distinction: here/there

Expressions in older text:

+ Yonder ( more distant from the speaker)

+ Hither ( to this place)

+ Thence ( from that place)

SPATIAL DEIXIS ( CONT.)

motion verbs = signs of place deixis+ Come vs. go makes distinction between the direction

of motion

He's coming = moving towards the speaker's location

He's going = moving away from the speaker's location.

+ Come = movement towards either the location of the speaker, or the location of the addressee

Ex: I'm coming = the speaker is moving towards the location of the addressee

SPATIAL DEIXIS (CONT.) Location from the speaker’s perspective can be fixed

mentally or physically.

Ex: speaker away from home still use “here” to mean the home location

Deictic projection: speaker project themselves into other locations before being in those location:

Ex: 1. I’ll come latter

2. I am not here now.

3. I was looking at this little puppy in a cage with such a sad look on its face. It was like, ‘Oh, I’m

so unhappy here, will you set me free’

3. TEMPORAL DEIXIS Proximal '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)

Distal 'then' applies to both past and future time relative to the speaker's present time

1. November 22nd, 1963? I was in Scotland then.

2. Dinner at 8:30 on Saturday? Okay, I'll see you then

Non-deictic temporal reference like calendar and clock time is learned later than deictic references such as ‘tomorrow’, ‘today’, ‘tonight’, ‘this week’

TEMPORAL DEIXIS (CONT.) Choice of verb tense expresses temporal deixis:

+ Present tense is proximal:

Ex: I live here now

+ Past/future are distal:

Ex: I lived there then

I will be in London by then

+ Conditional/unlikely event also treated as deictically distant:

Ex: If I was rich, I would buy a car.

Ex: I could be in Hawaii ( if I had a lot of money)

IV. DEICTIC PROJECTION

*Location from the speaker’s perspective

can be fixed mentally and physically

Eg: I’m here. (physically distant)

Speakers always tend to project

themselves into other locations prior to

actually being in those locations

Eg : I’ll come later. (movement of location)

DEICTIC PROJECTION (CONT.)*Speaker projects himself in the required

location/ time/ person

Eg 1: I’m not here now. (machine)

Eg 2: seeing a bird in a cage with the thought: “oh, I’m not fine here, please release

me” I : the pet’s thinking here: not the place of the speaker

VI. PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE

-Physical distance: E.g. This book, that cat -Psychological distance:

Our feelings of near and far are very innate to us and

we tend to use them to "bring closer" or "distance"

concepts from ourselves depending on our emotions.

E.g. That worker should be shot. makes him remote

This paper is genius. brings it closer

Relationship : Physical & Psychological distance

- Physically close psychologically close

- Physically distant psychologically distant

E.g. That man over there.

- Physically close marked as psychologically distant

E.g. A perfume sniffed by the speaker but he says:

“I don’t like that”

VII.DEIXIS AND GRAMMAR

Words in a language entirely depend on

context

Distinctions for personal, spatial and temporal

deixis can all be seen in English grammar

through direct and indirect speech.

Shift of context

- Proximal forms (same context as the utterance)

distal form (remote from the original context)

- Direct speech => meaning of “near” speaker

Indirect speech => “away speaker”

Ex: Are you planning to be here this evening?

(direct speech)

I asked her if she was planning to be there that evening.

(indirect speech)

DEIXIS ELEMENTS

Personal or possessive pronouns

(I/you/mine/yours)

Demonstrative pronouns (this/that/these/those)

Spatial/temporal adverbs (here/there/now)

Personal or possessive adjectives (my/your)

Demonstrative adjectives (this/that/these/those)

Articles (the)

Other pro-forms (so/do)