UNIT 2:

DEIXIS AND DISTANCE

Vuong Thi Hai Yen, PhD
Mobil: 0941286886
Email: vuongthihaiyen.nn@gmail.com
 Objectives:

1. What is Deixis? What is a deictic expression?

2. How many types of deixis? What are they? Present about

some properties of Deixis

3. Person deixis; Spatial/ place deixis; time/ Temporal deixis;

discourse deixis; social deixis

4. Deixis and Grammar

5. Deixis between Semantics and Pragmatics

CONTENTS
 1. DEIXIS and DISTANCE

◦ The word ‘deixis’ is a technical term (from Greek)

for one of the most basic things we do with
utterances, which means ‘pointing’ via language.'
◦ any linguistic form used to accomplish ‘pointing’ is
called a deictic expression.
◦ When you notice a strange object and ask, 'What's
that?', you are using a deictic expression (that) to
indicate something in the immediate context.
◦ Deictic expressions are also known as indexicals.
(Yule, 1996:9)
 Deictic expressions
◦ Deictic expressions are meaningful in a given context.
◦ They are among the first words to be spoken by very young
children and can be used to indicate people via person
deixis (me/ you) or location via spatial deixis) (here/ there)….
◦ In order to be interpreted correctly, the speaker and listener
have to share the same context.
◦ They are particularly useful in face-to-face communication.
=> Deictic expressions depend on the speaker
and hearer sharing the same spatial context, in
face-to face spoken interaction.
=> Deixis is reference by means of an expression
whose interpretation is relative to the (usually) extra
linguistic context of the utterance
 Extra Linguistic Context of The Utterance

◦ who is speaking
◦ the time or place of speaking
◦ the gestures of the speaker
◦ the current location in the discourse
 2. Types of deixis
qPERSON DEIXIS: Any expression used to point to a
person (me, you, him, them) is an example of
PERSON DEIXIS.
qSPACE/SPATIAL/PLACE DEIXIS: Words used to point
to a location (here, there) are examples of PLACE
DEIXIS.
qTIME/TEMPORAL DEIXIS: The expression used to
point to a time ( now, then, tonight, last week,
yesterday) are examples of TIME DEIXIS.
q DISCOURSE DEIXIS: any expression used to refer
to earlier or forthcoming segments of the
discourse: in the previous/next paragraph, or
Have you heard this joke?
q SOCIAL DEIXIS: honorifics (forms to show
respect such as Professor John).
 2.1. Person Deixis
qa speech event includes at least two persons:
– first person = speaker
– second person = addressee
q If the two persons do not only refer to themselves while
talking, there is a third person ( = the person they are talking
about), that does not have to take part in the conversation.
qUsually the third person is not grammatically marked,
because the only two persons of importance are the first
person (speaker = most important) and the second person
(addressee = less important).
qonly in English: the suffix (-s) for the third person.
qThe traditional category of plural is not symmetrically
applied to first person (we) in the way it is to the third (they)
– In addition there are two first person `plural` pronouns,
corresponding to `we-inclusive-of-addressee` and `we-
exclusive-of-addressee`:
Eg: Let’s go to the cinema. = `we-inclusive-of-addressee`
Let’s go to see you tomorrow. =`we-exclusive-of-addressee`
(Levinson :1983)
 Person Deixis
◦ Pronouns:
◦ grammatical category for a person: personal pronouns
– All languages have personal pronouns or at least words, that refer to
the participants of the speech act.
◦ The pronouns of the first (I-my-mine) and second person (you- your-
yours) are deictic:
– reference to the speaking person.
ØIt is also possible to have deictic pronouns for the third person.
ØDefinite and specific pronouns: this, that, those, or these. Indefinite
and specific pronouns: somebody , something , who, what.
ØIndefinite and non-specific pronouns: someone , something , nobody,
nothing.
 2.2. Place Deixis
qconcerns the locations relative to anchorage points in the speech event (speaker = centre),
qtwo basic ways of referring to objects: by describing or naming them and by locating them,
qlocations can be specified relative to other objects:
Eg: – The station is two hundred yards from the college.
qlocations can be specified relative to the location of participants;
Eg: – It's two hundred yards away.
q Some pure place-deictic words: here and there (adverbs); this and that (demonstrative
pronouns);
=> symbolic usage of here = pragmatically given unit of space that includes the location of the
speaker;
Eg: – I'm writing to say I'm having a marvellous time here.
qAdverbs: here and there = contrast on a proximal/distal dimension;
– here = proximal (near); there = distal ( more distant) Bring that here and take this there.
qDemonstrative pronouns are more clearly organized in a proximal/distal dimension.
qthis = the object in a pragmatically given area close to the speaker's
location,
qthat = the object beyond the pragmatically given area close to the
speaker's location,
qsome languages have demonstratives with 3 and 4 way distinctions on
the proximal-distal dimension;
q( North West American language Tlingit) – demonstratives distinguish
between
– this one right here
– this on nearby
– that one over there
– that one way over there
qDirections: to the left from; to the right from
q motion verbs = signs of place deixis
– come vs. go makes distinction between the direction of
motion
Eg: + He's coming = he is moving towards the speaker's
location.
+ He's going = he is moving away from the speaker's location.
+ I'm coming = the speaker is moving towards the location of
the addressee.
– come = movement towards either the location of the
speaker, or towards the location of the addressee.
 2.3. Time Deixis

qmakes ul(mate reference to par(cipant-role

Eg: now = the (me at which the speaker is producing the u9erance
containing “now”.
qdis(nguish the moment of u9erance (= coding (me (CT)) and the moment
of recep(on (= receiving (me (RT)).
qin the canonical situa(on of u9erance (deic(c simultaneity) => CT =RT .
Eg: – It is cold outside. (normal speech act)
qcomplexities in the usage of tense, time adverbs and other time-
deictic morphemes (letter writing, or pre- recording of media
programmes)
=> deictic centre remains on the speaker and CT:
Eg: – This programme, is being recorded today, Wednesday April 1st,
to be relayed next Thursday.
=> deictic centre is projected on the addressee and RT:
Eg: – This programme was recorded last Wednesday, April 1st, to be
relayed today. (deictic centre was projected into the future)
Tenses:
qTenses = time relations in connection to a given point in time
– present = an event/action simultaneously to the speech act (work)
– past = an event/action before the speech act (worked)
– future = an event/action after the speech act (you will work)
qthere are language systems with more than 3 possibilities
– they distinguish between levels of past, dependent on their distance from the speaker's
utterance
– tense of immediate past
=> eg: John has just been able to solve the problem.
qdifference between absolute tense
– absolute tense refers immediately to the time of the speaker's utterance: simple past, simple
present
qRelative tenses refer to other tenses:
– past perfect: event refers to another event, that happens afterwards
q Tenseless eternal sentences:
– Two and two is four.
qlanguages without true tenses: – Chinese
q Cme deixis is relevant to various other deicCc elements
in language:
– eg: greeCngs => Good morning. => Can only be used in
the morning
– expressions: => the former president, my ex-husband
 Deictic center:
◦ the time of the utterance’s time; the place of the
utterance’s place, the person just giving the utterance.
 2.4. Discourse Deixis
qalso called text deixis.
qconcerns the use of expressions referring to apart of the discourse. while
within time deixis: next week, last week, discourse deixis: in the next chapter,
in the last paragraph.
qin discourse deixis, there are many words and phrases in English that indicate
the relationship between utterance and the prior discourse:
– but, therefore, in conclusion, to the contrary, still, however, anyway, well,
besides, actually, all in all, so, after all
– all these words make reference to a statement, sentence etc. that was said
before
qsome languages have morphemes that mark such discourse notions
 2.5. Social Deixis
qconcerns those aspects of language structure that encode the
social identities of participants, or the social relationship between
them,
qbut these usages are only relevant to the topic of social deixis in
so far as they are grammaticalized:
– polite pronouns e.g.“Vous/ ngài”, address titles.
qsocial relations concern in all those examples the relation
between the speaker and the addressee, especially the countries.
qin East Asia are known for having several levels of politeness,
based on the social difference between the persons concerned.
◦ Using Deixis • Certain words like here there, this, that , now , then,
yesterday as well as most pronouns such as I , you, him, her , them can
only be understood if we know about the context in which they are
used. • For example, the sentence, “ you’ll have to bring that back
tomorrow, because they aren’t here”, out of context will be quite
unintelligible. • Because this sentence contain large number of certain
expressions ( Deixis) which depend for their interpretaRon on the
immediate physical context in which they are uSered.
◦ All these expressions have to be interpreted in terms of
what person , place or time the speaker has in mind. There
is a broad distinction between what is marked as distant(
that ,there, then). It is also possible to mark whether the
movement is happening towards the speaker’s location(
come) or away from speaker’s location (go) If you are
looking for someone and he or she appears moving
towards you, you tend to say “ Here she Comes! If ,
however, she/he is moving away from you in the distance,
you are more like to say There she goes!
◦ People can actually use Deixis to have fun.
◦ The coffee shop owner who puts up a big sign that reads “
Free snacks Tomorrow” ( to get you to return to his shop)
can always claim that you are one day too early for the
meal.
◦ Deixis and Grammar Grammar : • the study of the rules governing the use of a given
natural language, and, as such, is a field of linguistics. •Traditionally, grammar
included morphology and syntax. •In modern linguistics these subfields are
complemented by phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Pragmatics: •how do
people use sentences in communication, •Characterize acceptable/unacceptable use.
•It is no longer possible to consider sentences in isolation: we need to take the
context into account. •We look beyond truth-conditional meanings. Deixis: • those
words in a language that entirely depend on context (Fromkin, et. al., 1991). The
meaning of deixis is 'pointing to' something. In verbal communication however, deixis
in its narrow sense refers to the contextual meaning of pronouns, and in its broad
sense, what the speaker means by a particular utterance in a given speech context.
◦ Deixis and Grammar The basic distinctions for person, spatial, and
temporal deixis can be seen in English grammar are presented in
direct and indirect speech. Are you planning to be here this
evening? ( DIRECT SPEECH) I asked her if she was planning to be
there that evening. ( INDIRECT SPEECH)
q When reporting a previous utterance, the utterance is marked
deictically as relative to the original circumstances.
qthe proximal forms will be shifted to the corresponding distal
forms.
qThe proximal deictic forms of a direct speech give the sense of
being in the same context as the utterance.
qThe distal deictic forms of an indirect speech give the sense of
being remote as the original speech event.
qThe regular difference in English reported discourse marks a
distinction between the ‘near speaker’ meaning of direct speech
and the ‘away from speaker’ meaning of indirect speech.
PRACTICE
 ◦ Exercise 1: Read the lyrics of the song “Safe and sound” by Taylor Swift. Then, answer the questions below.
(1) I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go
(2) When all those shadows almost killed your light
(3) I remember you said don't leave me here alone
1) List all the deictic expressions in the lyrics
and group them into the correct type. Clarify
(4) But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight
what/ who the deictic expressions point to.
(5) Just close your eyes, the sun is going down
(6) You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now
(7) Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound
(8) Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire
(9) The war outside our door keeps raging on
(10) Hold onto this lullaby even when the music’s gone, gone
◦ Just close your eyes, the sun is going down You'll be alright, no one can hurt you
now
◦ Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound 2) Decide whether those deictic
◦ Just close your eyes, you'll be alright expressions are proximal or
◦ Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound. distal forms. Explain why.