PRAGMATIC

Pragmatics:
Deixis and Distance
By: http://www.kau.edu.sa/SBANJER
Dr. Shadia Y. http://wwwdrshadiabanjar.blogsp
Banjar ot.com

DR. Shadia Y. 11
 Deixis
Definition
The word ‘deixis’ is a
technical term (from
Greek) for one of the
most basic things we
do with utterances,
which
DR. Shadia Y. Banjar
means 22
 Definiti
ons

1: any linguistic form used

to accomplish ‘pointing’ is
called a deictic
expression.
2: deictic expressions
are also known as
DR. Shadia Y. 33
 Deictic expressions
Deictic expressions are meaningful in a given
context.
They are among the first words acquired by
children.
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.

DR. Shadia Y. 44
 Types of Deixis
PERSON DEIXIS Any :
expression used to point to a person
( me, you, him, them) is an example of
PERSON DEIXIS.
SPACE/SPATIAL/PLACE
DEIXIS : Words used to point to a
location ( here, there) are examples of
PLACE DEIXIS.
TIME/TEMPORAL
DEIXIS : The expression used to
point to a time ( now, then, tonight, last
DR. Shadia Y. Banjar 55
week, yesterday) are examples of TIME
 : 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?
SOCIAL DEIXIS: honorifics
(forms to show respect such as
Professor Li).

DR. Shadia Y. 66
 Person
Deixis
a speech event includes at least two persons:
– first person = speaker
– second person = addressee
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.
Usually 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).
only in English: the suffix (-s) for the third person.
The 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`:
– Let`s go to the cinema.
– = `we-inclusive-of-addressee`
– Let`s go to see you tomorrow.
DR. Shadia Y. 77
– =`we-exclusive-of-addressee`
 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.
It is also possible to have deictic pronouns for the
third person.
Definite and specific pronouns: this, that, those, or
these.
Indefinite and specific pronouns: somebody ,
something , who, what.
Indefinite and non-specific pronouns: someone ,
DR. Shadia Y. 88
something , nobody, nothing.
 Place Deixis
concerns the locations relative to anchorage points in the
speech event (speaker = centre),
two basic ways of referring to objects: by describing or naming
them and by locating them,
locations can be specified relative to other objects:
– The station is two hundred yards from the college.
locations can be specified relative to the location of participants;
– It's two hundred yards away.
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;
– I'm writing to say I'm having a marvellous time
here.
Adverbs: here and there = contrast on a proximal/distal
dimension;
– here = proximal (near); there = distal ( more distant)
– Bring that here and take this there.
Demonstrative pronouns are more clearly organized in a
proximal/distal
DR. Shadia Y. dimension. 99
 Place
Deixis

this = the object in a pragmatically given area

close to the speaker's location,
that = the object beyond the pragmatically given
area close to the speaker's location,
some languages have demonstratives with 3 and
4 way distinctions on the proximal-distal
dimension;
( North West American language Tlingit) –
demonstratives distinguish between
– this one right here
– this on nearby
– that one over there
– that one way over there
Directions: to the left from; to the right from

DR. Shadia Y. 1010

 Place
Deixis

motion verbs = signs of place deixis

– come vs. go makes distinction between
the direction of motion
– 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.

DR. Shadia Y. 1111

 Time
Deixis
makes ultimate reference to participant-role
=> ex.: now = the time at which the speaker is producing
the utterance containing “now”.
distinguish the moment of utterance (= coding time (CT)) and
the moment of reception (= receiving time (RT)).
in the canonical situation of utterance (deictic simultaneity)
=> CT =RT
– It is cold outside. (normal speech act)
complexities 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:
– This programme, is being recorded today, Wednesday April
1st, to be relayed next Thursday.
=> deictic centre is projected on the addressee and RT:
– This programme was recorded last Wednesday, April 1st, to
be relayed today. (deictic centre was projected into the
DR. Shadia Y. 1212
future)
 Time
Deixis
Tenses:
Tenses = 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)
there 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
=> ex.: frz. Jean vient de resoudre le problème.
John has just been able to solve the problem.
difference between absolute tense
– absolute tense refers immediately to the time of the
speaker's utterance: simple past, simple present
Relative tenses refer to other tenses:
– past perfect: event refers to another event, that happens
afterwards
DR. Shadia Y. 1313
 Time
Deixis

tenseless eternal sentences:

– Two and two is four.
languages without true tenses:
– Chinese
time deixis is relevant to various other deictic
elements in language:
– ex.: greetings
=> Good morning.
can only be used in the morning
– expressions:
=> the former president, my ex-
husband

DR. Shadia Y. 1414

 Deictic center: the time of the utterance’s
time; the place of the utterance’s place, the

.
person just giving the utterance

“Near speaker” —“away from

speaker”
︱ ︱
Proximal distal
︱ ︱
This, here, now that,
there, then
DR. Shadia Y. 1515
 Discourse Deixis

also called text deixis.

concerns 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.
in 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
some languages have morphemes that mark
such
DR. Shadia Y. discourse notions 1616
 Social
Deixis
concerns those aspects of language
structure that encode the social identities of
participants, or the social relationship
between them,
but these usages are only relevant to the
topic of social deixis in so far as they are
grammaticalized:
– polite pronouns e.g.“Vous”, address
titles.
social relations concern in all those
examples the relation between the speaker
and the addressee, especially the countries.
in East Asia are known for having several
levels of politeness, based on the social
difference between the persons concerned.

DR. Shadia Y. 1717

 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 interpretation on
the immediate physical context in which
they are uttered.
DR. Shadia Y. 1818
 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,
DR. Shadia Y.
she/he is moving away from
1919
 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.

DR. Shadia Y. 2020

 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,
DR. Shadia Y. what the speaker means by a particular 2121
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.
DR. Shadia Y. ( INDIRECT SPEECH) 2222
 When reporting a previous utterance, the
utterance is marked deictically as relative to
the original circumstances.
the proximal forms will be shifted to the
corresponding distal forms.
The proximal deictic forms of a direct
speech give the sense of being in the same
context as the utterance.
The distal deictic forms of an indirect
speech give the sense of being remote as
the original speech event.
The regular difference in English reported
discourse marks a distinction between the
‘near
DR. Shadia speaker’
Y. meaning of direct speech and
2323
 Thank Yo
u!

DR. Shadia Y. 2424