IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST MERCIFUL & THE BENEFICENT.Topic: Deixis

Chapter#2Submitted To: Dr. Iqbal ButtSubmitted By: Kosar ParveenNCBA & E Gujrat Campus

Introduction Any linguistic form that we use to accomplish the

task of pointing out is called deixis. The deictic words such as I, we, you, he, she, this, that, it, now, then, here, there, tomorrow, yesterday, etc., are different linguistic forms and are called deictic expressions. The meanings of deictic expressions can be understood only in terms of speakers intended meanings.

For example: Speaker A: Have you brought the book? Speaker B: Yes The word the is obviously a deictic expression

whose exact meaning can only be understood in terms of speaker A’s intended meaning.

When we indicate something we use expressions. These expressions are called indexicals, e.g. now, then, I, come, go etc. these expressions require an addressee to be able to pick out a person, place or time relevant in understanding how the words refer. This is called deictic reference.

Some other examples of deictic expressions1. It is now 12:15.2. She is the mother of Napoleon.3. This is Iqbal.4. That will end then.5. Letizea was the mother of Napoleon.In the above examples, the underlined

words i.e. It, she, the, this, that, the, are deictic expressions or indexicals.

Deictic centre or deicticpoint

The point of positioning of a speaker is called deictic centre or deictic point. If a speaker is sitting at a specific place and says :Come here. The word here in this case is deictic expression which shows that the location of the speaker is away from the addressee .

The use of deictic expressionIt has two types: Deictic use and non deictic useThe deictic use can be further divided into 2 types, that is, 1. Deictic use plus gesture.2. Deictic use minus gesture.The example of deictic use plus gestureWhen a teacher says:You will have to read the chapter. In this sentence the word you is deictic expression, used for only one particular student and it conveys the meaning that you have to read the chapter , you have to read the chapter , you have to read the chapter.The example of deictic use minus gestureI know you will enjoy reading the chapter.In this example, the statement is general and is without gesture.

Non deictic expression The examples of non-deictic expression I went to this city one time…. I broke this finger. I love this city.In these examples, there is a non deictic use of this which does not reference anything specific. Rather, it is used as an indefinite article, much the way a could be used in its place. If we use “the” in place of “this” , it will be deictic .In deictic expressions, immediate context or immediate setting must be present, but in non-deictic expressions, there is no immediate context.

Origin of term Deixis The deixis is a borrowed term

derived from a Greek word, meaning pointing to or picking up.

The property of language in which we study indexical, is called indexicality and the dexical terms which encode context are called deictics.

In linguistics, deixis refers to words and phrases that cannot be fully understood without additionalcontextual information (words are deictic if their semantic meaning is fixed but their denotational meaning is varied depending on time and/or place). In reality, words or phrases that require contextual information to convey any meaning are deictic e.g. English pronouns are deictic.

Deictic types Deictic words or deictics are a closed class, that

is, there is a limited set of these words which can be used deictically but some of them can also be used non-deictically . On the basis of semantic criteria deixis can be classified into three major categories given below:

1. Person deixis which is based on person reference e.g. I.

2. Place deixis: Which is based on place reference e.g. here, there

3. Time deixis: Which is based on time reference e.g. now, then.

4. Fillmore calls these three categories of deixis as “major grammaticalized types”.

Person deixis Any expression used to point a person is called

person deixis e.g. all pronouns such as I, you, he, she, me, him, them etc.

Person deixis concerns the persons involved in an utterance, such as:

1. The persons directly involved e.g. the speaker and the addressee.

2. The persons not directly involved e.g. those who hear the utterance but are not being directly addressed.

3. The persons mentioned in the utterance. Certainly, the distinctions are generally indicated

by pronouns. The following examples are self explanatory.

i. I am going to bazaar. ii. Would you like to have dinner.iii. They tried to hurt me, but he came to the rescue.

2 . Place deixis It is also known as space deixis. Any expression or

word used to point to a location is called place deixis. Actually place deixis concerns with itself with the

spatial locations relevant to an utterance. The locations may be either those of the speaker and

the addressee or those persons or objects being referred to, such as here, there, where, yonder etc.

The following examples are worth mentioning: I enjoy living in this city. Here is where we met last month. She was sitting over there. These examples show clearly that place deixis may be

of two types: A Proximal place deixis, such as this, these, here. B Distal place deixis, such as there, that, those.

The position of the speaker and the addressee

In case of place deixis the position of the speaker is the most important and then comes the addressee position e.g. :

Speaker: come upstairs. Speaker: go upstairs. Speaker: follow me up, follow

me down.

Time deixis or temporal deixis Any expression used to point to a time is

called temporal or time deixis. In other words, time deixis concerns itself

with the various times involved in and referred to in an utterance, such as, tonight, last week, yesterday, before, after etc.

Actually, time deixis includes time adverbs like now, then, soon and so forth, and also different tenses.

For explaining time deixis, a good example is the word tomorrow, which denotes the consecutive next day after every day. The tomorrow of a day last year was a different day from the tomorrow of a day next week.

Concept of ET and DT by Fillmore A renowned linguistic Fillmore explains that in

case of time deixis, the time adverbs can be used relative to the time when an utterance is made. Fillmore calls this time as the “encoding time”, or ET.

On the contrary, he calls the time, when the utterance is heard as the “decoding time”, or DT.

While these are frequently the same time, they can differ, as in case of pre-recorded broadcast or correspondence e.g. If one were to right:

“It is raining now, but I hope when you read this it will be sunny”, the ET and DT would be different, with the formal deictic term concerning ET and the latter concerning DT.

Moreover, when I say, “I am going to start a new chapter”, it is an excellent example of ET. But when a teacher conveys a written message to his/her class, by writing on the white board: “I will back in an hour”, he is referring to the decoding time or DT.

Other categories of deixis In addition to 3 traditional types

of deixis based on time, place or person, there are two other types of deixis similarly pervasive in language use.

These are discourse deixis and social deixis.

These were first discussed by Fillmore and Lyons.

Discourse deixis It is also called text deixis. It refers to the

use of expressions within an utterance. It is used in conversation and in discourse practices. When deixis is used for rhetoric purposes, that is called discourse deixis. In discourse deixis second person is used.

In Urdu language for Allah Almighty, sometimes we use Aap and sometimes Tu to emphasize the power of Allah Almighty, we switch from aap to tu. In Urdu language, the words ap and unhon are used in a plural sense but when are used for rhetoric purpose, they are used in terms of authority and respect.

For example, Jab unhon na Iqbaliat pesh ki. Aap ka tasawar-e-riasat aj bhi usi Tarah istimal kia

ja sakta hai. Ap and unhon are discourse deixis. Ap and unhon are used here as discourse deixis

not as pronouns. Lyons points out that it is possible for an

expression to be both deictic and anaphoric at the same time. In his example,

I was born in London and I have lived here/there all my life.

“here” or “there” function anaphorically in their reference to London and deictically in that, the choice between here and there indicates whether the speaker is or isn’t currently in London.

Social deixis Social deixis concerns the social information

that is encoded within various expressions, such as social status of a person and social familiarity.

For example, I can call my colleague “tum” but not “tu” because tu is not comfortable in particular environment. It can be used in case of best friends.

Social deixis changes from language to language .

conclusion Deixis is a powerful way of positioning yourself,

subtly, amongst the people you want to interact with, in a way that shows you can see things from their perspective. It is very important to note that single lexical items such as I, here ,now are part of a highly grammaticalized system and assume addressee knowledge of the identity [in the case of I], the spatial location [in the case of here] and the temporal location [in the case of now] of the speaker . The meaning of the deictic words change with respect to position of the speaker and the addressee but the position of the speaker is more important , for example come here, go there. In these sentences , deictic words here and there indicate the position of the speaker. The references concerning the person place and time can only be understood by an addressee who is able to reconstruct the speaker’s view point.

References Davies, W. H. (1911). poem Leisure. Retrieved

January 30, 2014, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure_(poem)

Grundy, P. Doing Pragmatics (second ed.). New York, USA: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Newyork: Cambridge University press 1983.

Lyons, J. (1997). Semantics 2. Newyork, Newyork, USA: Cambridge University press.

  

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