DEIXIS AND REFERENCE

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DEIXIS AND REFERENCE
A central concern of pragmatics is deixis (or
indexicality).
A deictic (or indexical) word is one whose
interpretation depends in part on some aspect of
the context of the utterance in which it is used
(e.g. the speaker, the addressee, the time or the
place).
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1) I am going to London tomorrow.
Who does I refer to?
What time does am refer to?
What day does tomorrow refer to?
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In reported speech, deictic terms in the original
utterance are often translated into other,
possibly non-deictic terms in order to preserve
the original meaning.
2) Mary said she was going to London the next
day
I ? she
am ? was
tomorrow ? the next day
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Person deixis
Some words depend for their interpretation on who
is speaking or who is being addressed.
3) I saw you.
4) Mary said she saw me.
5) You were late.
6) Mary said I was late.
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First person pronouns refer to the speaker or to
the speaker and others (possibly including the
addressee).
I, me, my, myself, we, us, our, ourselves
Some languages distinguish between an inclusive
first person pronoun (referring to a group
including the speaker and the addressee) and an
exclusive first person pronouns (referring to a
group including the speaker but not the
addressee). An example is the South American
language Quechua.
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Second person pronouns refer to the addressee or
to the addressee and others.
you, yourself, yourselves
Some languages have distinct familiar and
deferential second person pronouns.
7) a. Wyt ti n barod? (Welsh) are
you PART ready Are you ready?
b. Ydych chi n barod? are you
PART ready Are you ready?
PART particle
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Third person pronouns refer to some individual
other than the speaker or addressee or some group
not including the speaker or addressee.
he, she, they, him, her, them, his, their,
himself, herself, themselves
8) He is a genius.
9) We saw them.
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Third person pronouns may be deictic or may be
anaphoric, i.e. may have an antecedent, a nearby
expression with the same reference.
10) Lee thinks he is a genius. 11) The boys think
we saw them.
The pronoun does not refer to the antecedent.
The pronoun and the antecedent refer to the same
person and thing.
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The antecedent commonly precedes the pronoun but
sometimes it follows
12) Before Kim went out, he fed the cat.
13) Before he went out, Kim fed the cat.
A pronoun is sometimes said to be cataphoric when
it has a following antecedent.
A pronoun cannot have a following antecedent
cannot which is inside a subordinate clause.
14) He thinks Lee is a genius.
15) They think we saw the boys.
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Some other kinds of anaphora
16) Lee is irritable and he has been so for
weeks.
17) Kim is looking for a book about pragmatics
but he wont find such a book here.
18) Lee climbed Everest in 1998 and Kim did it
last year.
19) Sandy is clever but he doesnt look it.
20) Kim says that he is going to Australia, but
I dont believe it.
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Demonstrative pronouns
Rather like third person pronouns are
demonstrative pronouns. It is rather like this
and that. They and them are rather like these and
those.
21) I dont understand it/this/that.
22) They/these/those are good.
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Demonstratives can act as determiners and combine
with a noun. Third person pronouns cannot do this.
21) I dont understand it/this/that book.
22) They/these/those films are good.
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This refers to something which is relatively
close the speaker. That refers to something which
is not so close to speaker (and possibly close
the hearer).
Some languages have a three way distinction among
demonstratives. This includes earlier forms of
English with this, that and yon and Latin with
hic, iste, ille.
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That can be used deictically and anaphorically.
It can also be used metaphorically (Green 1989
24).
24) indicating a copy of a midwestern daily
newspaper An Australian publisher bought this
for 5 million.
The intended referent of a demonstrative may be
made clear by a pointing.
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But pointing is not a simple matter.
Imagine a jar of sugar with a glass lid, on
which the word sugar is painted in blue and
imagine that someone puts her fingertip just
under the letter u of the word sugar and says
Whats that? Our answer might be, among other
things, the letter u, the word sugar, paint, blue
paint, blue, English, a lid, glass, a glass lid,
a jar, sugar, a jar of sugar, and so on,
depending on our interpretation of the persons
interests is she learning English, the use of
seasoning, physics, or what? (Morgan 1978 264,
cited in Green 1989 18-19)
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Place deixis
Some words depend for their interpretation on
where the utterance is produced.
26) I am having a lovely time here.
27) Mary said I was having a lovely time there.
28) I will be there soon.
29) Mary said she would be here soon.
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Here normally refers to the place where the
speaker is while there refers to somewhere else.
But what is meant by where the speaker is?
30) Im comfortable here.
Is here just where the speaker is standing or
sitting, the room the speaker is in, the building
the speaker is in, the part of town the speaker
is in, the town the speaker is in, the country
the speaker is in?
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Come, go, bring and take
Come and bring typically refer to motion towards
the speaker. Go and take typically refer to
motion away from the speaker.
31) Theyre coming to get me.
32) Im going to France.
33) Bring your assignment to my office next week.
34) Will you take me this book to the library?
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The speaker may anticipate her future location in
using come.
35) Can I come and visit you?
36) Come with me to South America.
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Time deixis
Some words depend for their interpretation on
when the utterance is produced.
37) Now isnt a good time.
38) Mary said then wasnt a good time.
39) Ill be in Colchester then.
40) Mary said she would be in Colchester now.
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Now normally refers to the time of speaking,
while then refers to some other time.
But what is meant by the time of speaking?
41) Im happy now.
Is now just the instant of speaking, this morning
or afternoon, today, this week, this month, this
year?
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42) Ill work harder next year. 43) Mary said
she would harder in the next year.
44) I had a great time last summer. 45) Mary said
she had a great time in the previous summer.
46) I was ill yesterday. 47) Mary said she was
ill the day before.
48) I cant come today. 49) Mary said she
couldnt come that day.
50) I will come tomorrow. 51) Mary said she
would come tomorrow.
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Tense
Finite verbs, i.e. verbs marked for tense depend
for their interpretation on when the utterance is
produced.
A present tense verb typically refers to a
situation obtaining at the time of utterance.
A past tense verb typically refers to a situation
which obtained before the time of utterance.
52) Lee is clever.
53) Lee was clever.
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The combination of will and the base form of the
verb is sometimes referred to as the future tense
the verb although it is not a tense in the way
that the present and past are. It does not always
refer to a future.
54) They will be in London now.
This is a statement about the present for which
the speaker has limited evidence.
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Discourse deixis
Some words and phrases depend for their
interpretation some aspect of preceding, current
or following utterances.
55) In the last paragraph I defined deixis.
56) That was a good joke.
57) speaking in a Newcastle accent This is a
Newcastle accent.
58) In the next chapter I discuss speech acts.
59) What I said to him was this ...
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Social deixis
Many languages indicate in their sentences
something about the relation between the speaker
and the hearer. Many languages have a distinction
between familiar and deferential forms of address.
60) a. Tu es le professeur. (French) You are
the teacher. b. Vous êtes le professeur. You
are the teacher.
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61) a. Wyt ti n barod? (Welsh) are
you PART ready Are you ready? b. Ydych chi
n barod? are you PART ready
Are you ready?
62) a. Widzialem ciebie. (Polish) I-saw
you.SG I saw you. b. Widzialem
pana/pania. I-saw sir lady I saw
you.
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Definite descriptions and proper names
The definite article is not usually cited as a
deictic term, but the interpretation of definite
descriptions typically containing the definite
article and a noun (and possibly other material)
depends on the context of the utterance in which
it appears.
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A definite description is used when the speaker
expects the hearer to be able to identify the
intended referent, usually because it is the only
thing of its kind in the context of utterance.
63) I saw a dragon outside the library.
64) I saw the dragon outside the library.
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Definite descriptions can be used anaphorically.
65) The last time I head from Lee, the old boy
was very depressed.
66) Mr Hamza, who has been held at the high
security Belmarsh jail since May, is fighting
extradition to the US. It last week emerged
that British police were preparing to charge
the 47 -year-old Egyptian-born preacher,
delaying US extradition proceedings and
angering the US authorities, who wanted to try
him for separate offences. (The Guardian)
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Proper names are not classed as deictic elements,
but their interpretation depends on the context
of the utterance in which they appear.
A proper name is used when the speaker expects
the hearer to be able to identify the intended
referent, usually because it is the only person
or thing to which the name applies in the context
of utterance.
71) I saw someone called Kim.
72) I saw Kim.
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A consequence
A consequence of deixis and interpretation of
definite descriptions and proper names is that
the truth conditional meaning of an utterance is
dependent in part on context. Thus, if semantics
is concerned with truth conditional meaning and
pragmatics deals with deixis and interpretation
of definite descriptions and proper names, then
semantics depends on pragmatics. (Levinson 1983
59)
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REFERENCE
Morgan, J.L. (1978), Two types of convention in
indirect speech acts, in P. Cole (ed.), Syntax
and Semantics 9 Pragmatics, New York Academic
Press, 261-280.