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The more two speakers have in common, the less
language theyll need to use to identify familiar
things ? Pragmatics Chapter 2 Deixis and
distance
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Deixis
Pointing via language by using deictic
expressions or indexicals in utterances.
Deixis signals a referent and it relates that
referent to a common ground shared by the speaker
and the addressee. Typical deictics include
this, that, here, and now. All of these words
have the ability to situate the speaker and
hearer in relation to one another and to the
world around them.
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• Deixis is reference by means of an expression
  whose interpretation is relative to the context
  of the utterance, such as
• who is speaking
• the time or place of speaking
• the gestures of the speaker
• the current location in the discourse
• The topic of the discourse

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Near speaker ? proximal terms ( this, here,
now) Away from speaker ? distal terms (that,
there, then)
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. For example, I is a deictic pronoun because it
signals the speaker as the referent . Another
characteristic of deictics such as I and you is
that their referents change constantly depending
on who is using them. I refers to me when I say
it and refers to another person when he/she says
it. In this sense, speakers and hearers
constantly adjust their internal registry of
deictics to keep up with the conversation.
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• News narratives show many examples of deixis
• Example 1 - from a CBS Evening News broadcast.
• The Americans arrested three suspects, but they
  made many more enemies here,
• when the soldiers shot back at the gunmen hiding
  in these houses
• Here (line 1) and these (line 2) are two
  deictic words.
• These lines are a voice-over accompanying video
• footage of the village in which the attack
  occurred.
• Listeners (viewer and anchor) know that here
  does
• not mean in their own living room, although that
  is the
• point from which the television sound is
  emanating, but
• that here refers to a location proximal to the
  speaker.
• In the same manner, these houses is understood
  to
• refer to the houses in the video footage.

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• Example 2
• But its clear the situation here could grow far
  
• worse
• 2. before the U.S. even has a chance to win it.
• In this case, here is equivalent to here in
  Iraq or
• possibly here in Baghdad due to the context of
  the
• previous few sentences, in which the reporter
  interviews
• a U.S. general regarding the current situation on
  the
• ground. It is clear to all involved that here
  does not
• mean here the area that can be seen on the
  screen
• around the me the reporter.

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Person deixis
I the speaker You the addressee He, she, it
neither speaker, nor addressee Social deixis ( in
Italian, lei tu)? social status
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Spacial deixis
Here / There This / That They indicate
distance or proximity from the speaker, Physical
distance or proximity Mental and psychological
distance or proximity (Ex. deictic projection in
the direct speech)
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Temporal deixis
Now? proximal Then? distal (both past and
future) Temporal events that move toward us (into
view) ? this weekend Temporal events that move
away from us (out of view)
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Choice of the verb tense? Present proximal
form Past distal form, not only in time but
also because unlikely or impossible Ex If I had
a yacht. The distal forms of temporal deixis
are used to communicate not only distance from
current time but also distance from current
reality or facts.
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Conclusion Deictic expressions are in the
pragmatics wastebasket Why? Because their
interpretation depends on the context, the
speakers intention, and they express relative
distance.