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Deixis
Module 22008-9
Lesson 7
QuickTime™ e undecompressore TIFF (Non compresso)sono necessari per visualizzare quest'immagine.
A definition of deixis
Deixis is “pointing language”. We use deictic expressions or indexicals to signal a referent and relate that referent to common ground shared by the speaker and the addressee. They situate the speaker and the addressee in relation to each other and the world around them.
In other words, deixis helps us to identify things in time and space
Person deixis
a) Terms referring to speaker and addressee: I, me, my,mine, you, your yours
Is there a difference between these: - I want to see you, you but not you - you can never tell if they are boys are girls these days
b) Terms not referring to speaker or addressee he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs
c) Honorifics -Your Majesty, sir,These terms of social deixis indicate social status
Time deixis
Expressions referring to time:five minutes ago tomorrow last week next Monday
Choice of tense:- present tense - he doesn’t know
this is proximal
- past tense yesterday I slept for 10 hoursthis communicates distance from current
time
- conditionals if I won the lottery I would …this communicates distance from current
reality
Spatial deixis
Spatial deixis refers to proximity to or distance from the speaker.
These can be single words …herethere this that
… or expressions two kilometres from the school500 meters away
… and words/expressions referring to direction and/or movementto my leftunder the carpetfetch, take, bringshe came home she went home
Interpretation of deictic terms
We interpret deictic terms by looking at aspects of context such as
- who is speaking
- the time of speaking
- the location of the speaker
- gestures or body language of the speaker
- the topic of the discourse