- Types of deixis and examples
- Personal deixis
- Examples:
- Space deixis
- Example:
- Temporary deixis
- Deixis of speech
- Example:
- Social deixis
- Example:
- Affective or empathic deixis
- Example:
- References
The deixis in pragmatics and semantics is a concept that refers to the linguistic phenomenon whereby some words or phrases are part of its meaning via context and orientation of the speaker. These words are called deictics. The word deixis comes from the Greek δεῖξις and it is a noun from the same family as the verb deicmyni which means to show, point, point, among others.
Now deictic expressions (here, tomorrow, he, that) occur in all known human languages. They are usually used to individualize objects in the immediate context in which they are spoken, by pointing to them to direct attention to them.
Example of place deixis. Source: commons.wikimedia.org
The object stands out as a spotlight. So, a successful act of deictic reference is one in which the interlocutors attend to the same referential object.
In this way, the term deixis is applied to the use of expressions in which the meaning depends on the characteristics of the communicative act. This includes when and where this act takes place, and who is involved as the speaker and as the recipient.
For example, the words "now" and "here" are used to refer to the time and place of the broadcast, respectively. The expression "in this city" is probably interpreted as the city in which the statement takes place.
Certain pronouns have the ability to have meaning, but they also point to other entities for reference. Thus, the pronoun "I", for example, means "first person singular", but does not refer to a single person. Point out anyone who uses it. The meaning of the first person singular is stable, but the reference changes from user to user.
In short, deictic expressions refer to context. Therefore, contextual information is required to complete its meaning. These expressions are generally approached from the perspective of the speaker. This is why deixis is said to be egocentric.
Types of deixis and examples
Personal deixis
Personal deixis is carried out using personal pronouns. The speaker as the first person (I), addresses a statement to the listener as the second person (you), and could be speaking of a third person, him or her.
Personal deictic expressions include personal pronouns (I, you, he), possessive (my, you, his, mine, yours, yours) reflexive (me, you, se) and reciprocal (nos, se), in the singular and plural.
Examples:
"This my master, by a thousand signs, I've seen it's a raving lunatic yes, even I do not you stay in defense, because I'm more blockhead that he then will follow and will serve, if it is true the refrafán that says: 'Tell me who you are with, tell you who you are', and the other of 'Not with whom you are born, but with whom you have peace.
(Fragment of The ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
In this fragment it is observed how three people are referred to: me, you and him. The person speaking is Sancho Panza. According to the context, the deictics "I" and "my" refer to this character.
The interlocutor is the reader, and there are no deictic expressions that mention it, except the "you" (in telling you). But, in this saying, the "you" (the same as the "me" in tell me) is undefined (anyone). He and him (I remain, I follow him, I serve him) is the third person, Don Quixote.
Space deixis
Spatial deixis is the specification of the relative location of the participants at the time of communication. This is encoded through the demonstratives (this, that, that) and the adverbs of place (here, there, above, below, above).
Example:
“ Here, my dear friends, is the story of the adolescence of the one whom you loved so much and who no longer exists. I have kept you waiting for these pages for a long time. After writing they have seemed pale and unworthy to be offered as a testimony of my gratitude and affection. You do not ignore the words he spoke that terrible night, when he placed the book of his memories in my hands: «What is missing there you know; you will be able to read even what my tears have erased ».
Sweet sad mission! Read them, then, and if you stop reading to cry, that cry will prove to me that I have faithfully fulfilled it ”.
(Fragment of Maria, by Jorge Isaac)
In the text the play of proximity (here, these) and distance (that one, that) of the author is noted through the use of spatial deictics. The pronoun "that" in the phrase that one whom you loved so much replaces "that individual" or "that being." The sentence also shows a spatial relationship of the speaker with respect to the listeners (the friends).
Temporary deixis
Temporal deixis places the speaker's perspective on the past, present, and future. This type of deixis is grammaticalized in the adverbs of time (now, tomorrow, then) and in the verb tense.
- "When do you start, Johnny?
-I do n't know. Today, I think, huh, De?
-No, the day after tomorrow.
"Everyone knows the dates except me," Johnny grumbled, covering himself up to his ears with the blanket. I could have sworn it was tonight, and that this afternoon we had to go to rehearsal.
"It doesn't matter, " said Dédée. The thing is, you don't have a sax.
How the same results ? It is notthe same. The day after tomorrow is after tomorrow, and tomorrow is long after today. And today it is well after now, when we are chatting with fellow Bruno and I feel much better if I could forget about the time and drink something hot. "
(Excerpt from The Persecutor, by Julio Cortázar)
The adverbs today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and now place the interlocutors between the present and the future. The same happens with verb tenses with some exceptions. Such is the case of the expression "Dedée said." The verb in present perfect denotes a recent past.
Deixis of speech
The deixis of speech or textual deixis refers to the use of a linguistic expression within a sentence to indicate preceding or following expressions in the same spoken or written speech.
If the deictic element refers to a previous portion of the text it is known as anaphora, otherwise it is a cataphor. It should be noted that there are no specific grammatical categories for this kind of deixis.
Example:
- »It is that I have kept myself a virgin for you.
She would not have believed it anyway, even if it were true, because her love letters were made up of phrases like that that were not valid for their meaning but for their dazzling power. But he liked the courage with which he said it. Florentino Ariza, for his part, suddenly wondered what he would never have dared to ask himself: what kind of hidden life had she led outside of marriage ”.
(Fragment of Love in the Times of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez)
The neuter pronoun "lo," in this case, refers to portions of speech. The first time it appears, replace the phrase: I have kept myself a virgin for you. Then the second "it" replaces the question that follows: what kind of hidden life had she led outside of marriage
Social deixis
Social deixis deals with the encoding of the social status of the speaker, the recipient or a third person referred to. This also refers to the social relationships that are maintained between them.
Honorifics like "Your Excellency" or "Your Majesty" are an example of this. Likewise, in the case of the Spanish language, the pronouns “tú” and “tú” denote a degree of informality and formality among the speakers.
Example:
«Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the idea of duty are things that in case of error can be repugnant; but, still disgusting, they are great; His majesty, proper to human conscience, subsists in horror; they are virtues that have a vice, the error. The ruthless and honest bliss of a fanatic in the midst of atrocity retains some gloomy but respectable glow. There is no doubt that Javert, in his happiness, was worthy of pity, like every ignorant who succeeds. "
(Excerpt from Les Miserables, by Víctor Hugo)
In this case, the honorific "your majesty" portrays the social relationship between the speaker and his interlocutor.
Affective or empathic deixis
This type of deixis refers to the metaphorical use of deictic forms to indicate emotional or psychological distance or proximity between a speaker and a referent.
Thus, expressions such as "These guys, honestly!" it does not necessarily refer to a nearby physical location, but to an affective one.
Example:
“This is Gervasia, Manuelito's. This is Francisca, that of Andrés Ramón, Genoveva, Altagracia… Las heifers¹ sandovaleras, as they say around here.
In mautes² I have nothing but those three zagaletones ³ that got his macundos from the bongo. The inheritance that the children left me: eleven mouths with their full teeth ”.
(Fragment of Doña Bárbara, by Rómulo Gallegos)
Notes
1: Heifer: breeding of cattle, female.
2: Maute: calf, calf, male.
3: Zagaletón: adolescent, person who does nothing or has no profession, rebel.
4: Macundo: frets, objects (in Venezuela)
5: Bongo: a kind of canoe used by indigenous people
In this example, the speaker, a grandfather, is introducing his male and female grandchildren. She compares them to cattle. But when referring to "those three zagaletones", there seems to be an affective rather than physical distancing with respect to the men. This is not perceived when he talks about the granddaughters.
References
- Olza Zubir, J. (2007). Deixis. Caracas: Andrés Bello Catholic University.
- Fromkin, V.; Rodman, R. and Hyams, N. (2018). An Introduction to Language
Boston: Cengage Learning.
- Hanks, W. (s / f). Deixis and Pragmatics. Retrieved on February 17, 2018, from linguistics.oxfordre.com.
- Nordquist, R. (2018, January 13). Deictic Expression (Deixis). Retrieved on February 17, 2018, from thoughtco.com.
- Hazen, K. (2014). An Introduction to Language. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
- Renkema, J. (2004). Introduction to Discourse Studies. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
- Rodríguez Guzmán JP (2005). Graphic grammar to the juampedrino mode. Barcelona: Carena Editions.
- Huang, Y. (2012). The Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP.