Prof.

dr Olga Panić Kavgić

DEIXIS
Based on Yule 1996

In linguistics, the term deixis (from the Greek word for ‘showing’, ‘indicating’) refers to ‘pointing’ by language
(pokazivanje putem jezičkih sredstava), to using language to ‘point’ to events, persons, etc. This ‘pointing’ is
accomplished by means of deictic expressions (indexical expressions or indexicals). Typical deictic expressions include
personal pronouns (I, you) and spatial and temporal expressions such as here, there, now, then.

Deixis is crucially connected to the following four elements of the communication situation: speaker, hearer, time and
place. This means that deictic expressions take some elements of their meaning from the communication situation (e.g.
now, then, here, there take at least some of their meaning from the concrete situation).
The communicators have to share the same context (both linguistic and extralinguistic), which prototypically happens in
face-to-face spoken interaction.

The DEICTIC CENTRE (DEIKTIČKI CENTAR) constitutes the point of view that governs the use of deictic expressions.
Prototypically, the deictic centre is speaker-centred or speaker-oriented, it is ego-centric, centred towards the “I” of the
communication (person deixis – “I”, social deixis – “my social standing”, time deixis – “when I am”, space deixis –
“where I am at the moment of speech” and, finally, discourse deixis – “where I am as the speaker in the communication
process”). For example, the note Back in half an hour would be ego-centric, since it does not take into account the
decoder’s point of view, it only reflects the encoder’s temporal frame. If the decoder does not know the utterance time of
the note, they cannot know how long they have to wait.

However, the deictic centre may also be hearer-oriented (hearer-centred or addressee-centred or altro-centric). For
example, in I am not here now, now refers to the time when the hearer will be decoding the message. Thus, the speaker is
projecting the perspective onto the hearer, adjusting it to the decoding, not the encoding time. Such expressions, used
especially in answering machine messages, are examples of what is known as DEICTIC PROJECTION, since the speaker
projects his or her presence to be in the required location, at the required time.

CLASSIFICATION

I Deixis can generally be classified as:

1) PROXIMAL deixis – near the speaker (this, here, now). Proximal expressions are typically interpreted in terms
of the speaker’s temporal and spatial location, so that now is generally understood as referring to some point or
period in time that has the time of the speaker’s utterance as its centre.
2) DISTAL deixis – away from the speaker (that, there, then). These terms can either indicate ‘near addressee’ or
‘away from both speaker and addressee’.
3) PROXIMAL-DISTAL or MEDIAL deixis – in-between the first two types (taj in Serbian)

II Another classification was offered by Charles Fillmore (depending on how deictic expressions are realized):

1) GESTURAL deixis (GESTOVNA deiksa) – there is audio-visual and tactile contact between the communicators
who can monitor the communication event; in this case, deixis is accompanied by gesture (movement of hands,
head, eyebrows; gaze, etc.). For example: I want you to put it there. (There are accompanying gestures.)
2) SYMBOLIC deixis (SIMBOLIČKA deiksa) – it requires knowledge of some elements of the communication
situation, it includes words only, without any gestures. For example: Is Johnny there? (If there are no
accompanying gestures, there is purely symbolic.)
3) NON-DEICTIC use (NEDEIKTIČKA upotreba) – there is a deictic expression, but it is not used deictically. For
example: There is a large cat sitting on our mat. (There is not used deictically, it is a dummy existential pro-form,
empty of meaning or deictic function.)
20. Define and exemplify the concept of deixis (Yule 1996: 9-16). Identify the deictic centre in person, time, place, social
and discourse deixis? What are gestural and symbolic deixis characterized by? What changes does deictic projection
entail?
23. Classify the following uses as gestural, symbolic or non-deictic (examples from Levinson 1983: 65-66): (a) You, you,
but not you, are dismissed. / What did you say? / You can never tell what sex they are nowadays., (b) I met this weird
guy the other day. / This finger hurts. / This city is really beautiful., (c) Let’s go now rather than tomorrow. / Push not
now, but now! / Now, that is not what I said!, (d) There we go! / Hello, is Harry there? / Move it from there to there.,
(e) Harvey can only speak about this loud., (f) He’s not the Duke, he is. He’s the butler.

III According to what is pointed to, the following types of deixis can be distinguished:

1) PERSON deixis – pointing to people (I – the speaker, you – the hearer); it operates on a basic three-part division
(1st person I, 2nd person you and 3rd person he, she, it, the first two persons being treated as examples of
proximal deixis and the third as distal).
Person deixis can be either REFERENTIAL, when it is used to refer to people (You are a nice girl. He is my
brother.) or VOCATIVE (Come, you!). Vocatives in English are syntactically and semantically separated from
the rest of the utterance, both in speech and writing. The function of vocatives is to address or call someone,
hence the division into CALLS or SUMMONSES (DOZIVANJA) and ADDRESSES (OSLOVLJAVANJA).
Calls are typically utterance initial, they imply the calling of somebody’s attention and may also be gestural, i.e.
accompanied by gestures. For example: John, come here! Addresses are typically non-initial (medial or final),
they imply speaking to somebody for the first time (at least in that utterance) and tend to be symbolic rather than
gestural. For example: The truth is, Madam, nothing is as good these days. Not all calls can be addresses, but all
addresses can be calls.

24. Provide three examples each of calls and addresses. Which of the six Jakobsonian functions of language is involved
here?

2) SOCIAL deixis – indication of the relative social status of the communicators. The phenomenon of T/V
distinction is very closely connected to person deixis. In languages which observe this difference (e.g. French,
German, Spanish, Serbian, Hungarian), the use of the more familiar expression is a mark, an indication of
personal closeness of the two speakers, based on some kind of identity – actual or perceived – between their
statuses (similar rank or social standing, relationships within the family, colleagues at work). The use of this
pronoun can also stem from misattributed equality, as a result of absence of good manners. On the other hand,
there are languages (such as Japanese) which have an even more elaborate deictic system of expressions marking
the communicators’ relative social status (for example, addressor with higher status versus addressee with lower
status). Expressions which indicate higher status are described as honorifics.
The choice of one form communicates something (not directly said) about the speaker’s view of his or her
relationship with the addressee. The normal procedure when meeting someone is to start from the more distal
expression.

25. Discuss the T/V distribution in conjunction with vocatives and titles in English and in Serbian.

3) PLACE/SPATIAL deixis – deals with identifying space, indicating the relative location of people and things.
Spatial proximity is denoted by here, distance by there, whereas more precise expressions are also used for
making more precise spatial reference (over there, right here). Physical distance needs to be distinguished from
psychological distance. Generally, physically close objects tend to be treated by the speaker as psychologically
close, whereas something that is physically distant is usually perceived as psychologically distant (that man over
there). However, sometimes, something that is physically close is felt to be psychologically distant (e.g. I don’t
like that, that being the smell of a perfume).

4) TIME/TEMPORAL deixis – deals with identifying time. Temporal proximity is denoted by the use of the deictic
expression now, whereas temporal distance is denoted by then. It is of utmost importance to distinguish between
the speaker’s now and the hearer’s now. Other temporal deictic expressions include yesterday, tomorrow, today,
tonight, next week, last week, this week, etc.
 In terms of the choice of verb tense, the present tense is considered the proximal form (I live here now) and the
past tense the distal form (I lived there then). The past tense is used not only to denote past events, but also to
mark events presented by the speaker as not being close to present reality, as being hypothetical and deictically
distant from the speaker’s current situation (If I had a plane,... If I were rich,...). Thus, the remote or distal form
(the past tense form) can be used to communicate not only distance from current time, but also distance from
current reality or facts.

5) DISCOURSE/DISCOURSAL or TEXT/TEXTUAL deixis – analogous to endophoric reference, used to refer to

21. Specify the location of the speaker and comment on the use of the deictic ‘here’ in the following (examples from
Brown & Yule 1983: 52): (a) There’s another worn section which needs repair here., (b) You’ve got a very nice room
here., (c) It’s a really nasty day here., (d) You have a comparatively mild climate here. Construct similar examples
with the deictic ‘now’.
22. Find out the indications provided by the speaker in the following (examples from Hurford & Heasley 1983: 64-66):
(a) The astronauts are going back to Earth., (b) Please don’t bring food into the laboratory., (c) I first met my wife in
the year 1993., (d) The 1972 Olympic Games will be held in Munich., (e) Rosemary is writing on the living room wall.
26. What is the relationship, if any, between reference and deixis?

ELEMENTARY READING:
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (DEIXIS on pp. 9–16)

EXERCISES:
Prćić, T. (2006). Exercises in Pragmatics: Part 2. Exercises 20–26.