That stone head finally listened to the researchers after blown away by their

invention which is a bomb.

Decide whether or not the sentence above is true

based on syntax and semantics point of views, as

well as make sense due to pragmatics principle.

Explain your argument.

DEIXIS AND DISTANCE

2.1 Person Deixis

2.2 Spatial Deixis

2.3 Temporal Deixis

2.4 Deixis and Grammar

DEIXES

Deixis (Greek): ‘pointing’ via language

Deictic expression= indexicals: any linguistic form used to

accomplish this ‘pointing’

Deixis is tied to the speaker’s context with diectic expressions

‘near speaker’ ‘away from speaker’

proximal termsthisherenow

distal termsthat therethen

Deixis

person spatial temporal

to indicate people

to indicate location

to indicate time

2.1 PERSON DEIXIS

It operates on a basic 3-part division:

First person

Second person : You

Third person: she, he, it

- inclusive we: S + A- exclusive we: S + A + O

I

In many languages, person deixis is

elaborated with markers of relative social

status

Person deixis = social deixis = include social

status

e.g T/V distinction

Honorifics: expressions which indicate higher

status

In deitic terms, the 3 rd person is not a direct

participant in basic (I-You) interaction, and

being outsider = more distant

the 3rd person

Communicating distance

an ironic or humorous purpose

make potential accusation less direct

make personal issue seem like impersonal one

state general ‘rules’

- an ironic or humorous purposeE.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 directE.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”)

2.2. SPATIAL DEIXIS

-People’s location and things is being indicatede.g. here and there

-Motion toward speakere.g. come “come to bed!” go ”go to bed!”

Deictic projection: speaker seems projects themselves into other locations- Project to other location prior to actually being in those locations.

e.g. “I’ll come here later”

- Technology manipulate location. e.g. “I’m not here now”(recorder of a

telephone answering machine)

- Dramatic performance to represent the person, location, and feeling.

e.g. “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?””

Psychological distance:

Physically close objects will tend to be treated by the speaker as psychologically close.

- Physically distant objects will tend to be treated by the speaker as psychologically distant.

E.g. “the man over there”

- Mark something that physically close as psychologically distant

E.g. “I don’t like that” (after sniffing a parfume)

2.3 TEMPORAL DEIXIS ‘now’: the time coinciding with the speaker’s utterance

and the time of the speaker’s voice being heard The distal expression “then” can be:

Interpretation on knowing relevant utterance time -Past time e.g “November 22nd, 1990? I was in Surabaya,

then.”

- Future time e.g “Dinner at 8 on Saturday? Ok. I’ll see you then.”

- Unrecognized time e.g “Back in hour.” (we don’t know the time when it was put)

“Free soft drink tomorrow.” (1 day earlier)

Proximal form:Close to current

situation

Distal form:Distant from

current situation

Present tense Past tense

e.g. I live here now e.g. I l ived there then

Something is treated as extremely impossible from the current speaker’s situation = not close to present reality

e.g. I could be in Hawaii (if I had a lot of money)If I had a yacht,….If I was rich, ….

2.4 DEIXIS AND GRAMMARGrammar brings different interpretation Proximal deictic:

e.g. are you planning to be here this evening? (direct speech)

Distal deictic: e.g. I asked her if she was planning to be there that

evening. (indirect speech)

The interpretation of deictic expression depends on: Context Speaker’s intention Express relative distance

Dietic expressions always communicate more than is said

EXERCISE

1. To which deixis do these signs belong to? Analyze them, and interpret their meanings.

E.g.1.1.-Last: temporal deixis the last car that was seen by the speaker at a particular time in the past- …- …General interpretation:

e.g.Yesterday: temporal diexis distal form