Presentation on deixis and distance

DEIXIS AND DISTANCE

MAMOONA SHEHZADI

AMNA ZAHID

TAIBA AROOJ

PRESENTED BY

CONTENT

DEIXES AND DISTANCE

THREE TYPES OF DEIXES

DEIXES AND GRAMMAR

DeixisDeixis means “pointing via language”. Any linguistic form used to do this “pointing” is

called a deictic expression. Words like here, there, this, that, now and then, as well as most pronouns, such as I, we, you, he, her and them are deictic expressions.

What is Deixis Deixis is an important field of language study in its own

right - and very important for learners of second languages. But it has some relevance to analysis of conversation and pragmatics because it directly concerns the relationship between the structure of languages and the context in which they are used.It is often and best described as “verbal pointing”, that is to say pointing by means of language. The linguistic forms of this pointing are called deictic expressions, deictic markers or deictic words; they are also sometimes called indexicals.

What is indexicals

In linguistics and in philosophy of language, an indexical behavior or utterance symbolically points to (or indicates) some state of affairs.

For example, I refers to whoever is speaking; now refers to the time at which that word is

uttered; and here refers to the place of utterance.

Deictic expressions include such lexemes (words) as: Personal or possessive pronouns (I/you/mine/yours), Demonstrative pronouns (this/that), (Spatial/temporal) adverbs (here/there/now), Personal or possessive adjectives (my/your), Demonstrative adjectives (this/that), Articles (the).

Deictic Centre

The time of the utterance ’s time; the place of the utterance ’s place, the person just giving the utterance.

Proximal distal

Thishere now

ThatTherethen

“Near speaker”

“away from speaker”

Deictic expressions fall into three categories:

1- Person deixis: Any expression used to point to a person: me, you, him

and them.

2 -Time deixis: words used to point to a time: now, then, tonight, last week

and this year…

3-Space/spatial/place deixis: words used to point to a location: here, there and yonder

4-Deixis and Grammar: Proximal deictic: (direct speech)

Distal deictic: e.g. (indirect speech)

Person DeixisPerson deixis dealing with the grammatical

persons  within an utterance, 1-those directly involved (e.g. the speaker, the addressee), 2-those not directly involved (e.g. over hearers—those who hear the utterance but who are not being directly addressed), 3-those mentioned in the utterance.

Examples of person deictic

In English, the distinctions are generally indicated by pronouns. The following examples show how. I am going to the movies. Would you like to have dinner? They tried to hurt me, but he came to the rescue.

Person DeixisThird person pronouns are consequently distal forms

in terms of person deixis.Third person is not a direct participant in basic

intraction.Using a third person form where the second person

form would be possible.

- an ironic or humorous purpose E.g. “Would his highness like some coffee?” (one person is very busy in the kitchen, addresses another, who‟s being lazy) - make potential accusation less direct E.g. “Somebody didn‟t clean up after himself” (instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”)- make personal issue seem like impersonal one E.g. “Each person has to clean up after him or herself” (instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”) - state general rules E.g. “We clean up after ourselves around here” (instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”)

Deictic ProjectionDeictic projection = speakers being able to project

themselves into other locations, time or shift person reference. Eg. via dramatic performances, when using direct speech to represent the person, location and feelings of someone else.

ExampleA Hebrew teacher, discovering that he had left his

comfortable slippers back in the house, sent a student after them with a note for his wife.The note read: “Send me your slippers with this boy”. When the student asked why he had written ‘your’ slippers, the teacher answered: ‘Yold!(Fool) If I wrote ‘my’ slippers, she would read ‘my slippers’ and would send her slippers. What could I do with her slippers? So I wrote ‘your’ slippers, she’ll read ‘your’ slippers and send me mine.”

Spatial diexis

PRESENTED BY: AMNA ZAHID

Spatial diexisThe idea of a speaker 'pointing out' something in space or time in order to draw the attention of the addressee to it is basic to both spatial and temporal deixis (see e.g. Lyons 1977, Fillmore 1982b, Lakoff 1987).

CONTINUED……..They indicate distance and proximity from the speaker,

physical distance or proximity, mental and psychological distance or proximity.

Examples:• The station is two hundred yards from the college.• Bring that here and take this there.

Continued…….Place deixis, also known as space deixis, concerns itself with the spatial locations relevant to an utterance. Similarly to person deixis, the locations may be either those of the speaker and addressee or those of persons or objects being referred to. The most salient English examples are the adverbs “here” and “there” and the demonstratives “this” and “that” and these are used to mark the movement towards the speaker.

EXAMPLESThe church is behind the town hall.

• I enjoy living in this city.• Here is where we will place the statue.• She was sitting over there.• Here is a good spot; it is too sunny over there.

CONTINUED…..• Older texts have various distinct expressions.

Yonder (more distant) hither (to this place) and thence (from that place) which are still applicable but archaic.

Continued……• Some verbs of motion ‘come’ and ‘go’ retain a

deictic sense which means towards the speaker and away from the speaker. These are commonly used for pointing the position of people.

CONT………• The words that seem to be the first deictic meaning.• This and here (can be seen).• That and there (cannot be seen).

CONTI……..Examples.• This is my book lying here• That building is there in switzerland.

CONTINUED…..• It is important to remember that location from the

speaker’s perspective can be fixed mentally as well as physically.

• People away from there homes use ‘here’ to show and mean their home location.

Deictic Projection• To project or show the mean of different words and to

manipulate a location.• Examples• I am not here now.• I was looking at this little puppy in a cage with such a sad

expression on its face. It was like, ‘Oh, I’m so unhappy here, will you set me free?’

Psychological DistancePragmatic basis of spatial deixis is actually named as

psychological distance.It can be understood in terms of • Objects physically closeExampleThis cat sitting here is lovely

CONTINUED……..Objects physically distantExampleThat teacher sitting over there.• A speaker may also wish to show something distant which is actually

close.ExampleI don’t like that. This shows that the word ‘that’ does not have a fixed specific meaning

but it can be changed with respect to context.

ACTIVITYPick out the spatial deixis from the following.• This one (here) is bigger than that one (over there).• I like this/that one better.• The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the

corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more. [Edgar Allen Poe: The tell tale heart]

Pick out the spatial deixis.

• Benvolio. See, where he comes: so please you, step aside;• I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.• Montague. I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,• To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.• [Exeunt Montague and Lady Montague]• Benvolio. Good-morrow, cousin.• Romeo. Is the day so young?• Benvolio. But new struck nine.• Romeo. Ay me! sad hours seem long.• Was that my father that went hence so fast?• Benvolio. It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?

TEMPORAL DEIXISPRESENTED BY:

TAIBA AROOJ

WHAT ARE TEMPORAL DEIXIS?

Temporal comes from the Latin word temporalis which means "of time" The expressions which are used to point to a time are called temporal deixis.

What do you think?What are temporal deixis?

Temporal deixis are:NowThenTonightYesterday Last week

CONCEPT OF TIME The concept of time is represented by three main classes of expressions:

1) grammatical expressions (whether inflectional or by means of auxiliaries)

2) lexical expressions (like, today, tomorrow, and yesterday).

3) lexically composite expressions (like, ten minutes ago).

Lexicalization of Temporal DeixisLexicalization  of  temporal  deixis  comprises  two  divisions: simple lexical deicticslexically composite deictics It includes now, then, soon, tomorrow, today and this day, the day before yesterday, last/ next Monday

USE of time adverbs NOW and THEN

Pull the trigger now. You must do it now.

Now I am running my own business.

Now I am working on my PhD thesis.

The action has not been performed

yet.

The action is going on.

Can u give me some example?

Use of thenIt is used for past as well as future.

I was in Scotland then.

Then I will see you at night.

Can you differentiate between both usage of then?

We can treat temporal event as object 1-which move towards us ( the coming week)2-which move away from us ( the past week)

BASIC BUT UNCATEGORIZED TYPE OF TEMPORAL DEIXIS

It depends on the choice of verb tenseEnglish has two basic forms of tense

Present • I live here now.

past • I lived there then.

Continued…… Forms live and lived also tell us time.

Present tense

Proximal form

Past tense

Distal form

Activity Can you point out which words are deictic in this sentence:

“I was there yesterday.”

Personal          Spatial  Temporal

USE OF DEIXIS 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.

CONTINUED……. 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.

CONTINUED…. 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.

Continued…… 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)

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT TODAY?

DEIXIS AND ITS TYPES

PERSON, SPACIAL AND TEMORAL DEIXIS

DEIXIS AND GRAMMAR