Deixis and Distance

CHAPTER 02 05 Goals
In this lesson, you will learn:
Definitions
Person Deixis
Spatial Deixis
Temporal Deixis
Deixis and Grammar

OBJECTIVES 5 Goals
Definitions

PART 1
 DEIXIS

 deixis = pointing
→ Any linguistic form used to accomplish this pointing is
called a deictic expression.

 What’s that?
→ that = a deictic expression that helps indicate something
in the immediate context
 KEY TERMS

 deictic expressions = indexicals

1. Person Deixis = me, you (people)
2. Spatial Deixis = here, there (location)
3. Temporal Deixis = now, then (time)
→ Their interpretation depends on the context.

 I’ll put this here.

 NEAR OR AWAY

 Proximal Terms: near the speaker (this, here, now, etc.)

 Distal Terms: away from the speaker (that, there, then,
etc.)

 the speaker’s location = Deictic Center

 PROXIMAL TERMS

 now = some point or period in time that has the time of

the speaker’s utterance at its center

 Proximal Terms are typically interpreted in terms of the

speaker’s location.
 DISTAL TERMS

 In some cases, distal terms do not refer only to away

from speaker, but sometimes help distinguish between
near the listener and away from both.
Person Deixis

PART 2
 I AND YOU

 I = the speaker
 you = the addressee (the listener)
→ The simplicity of these forms disguises the complexity
of their use. Remember that I and you as the speaker and
the addressee are shifted constantly during a conversation.
 BASIC DIVISION

 basic three-part division

1. first person: I
2. second person: you
3. third person: he, she, or it
 SOCIAL STATUS INVOLVED

 Sometimes, markers of relative social status get

involved.
→ honorifics = expressions which indicate higher status
→ social deixis = discussion of the circumstances leading to
the choice of one of these forms rather than another
 T/V DISTINCTION

 social contrast = distinction between forms used for a

familiar versus a non-familiar addressee in some
languages
→ The choice of one form communicates something about
the speaker’s view of his/ her relationship with the
addressee.

1. speaker = higher, older, more powerful

 PROBLEM

1. businesswoman = higher economic status, younger

2. cleaning lady = lower economic status, older
T/V DISTINCTION

familiar non-familiar language

tu vous French
du sie German
tú usted Spanish
 SOLUTION

 older = tú > younger = usted

 PROBLEM AGAIN

 usted refers to a third person, who is not a

participant as I and you, or, in other words, who is an
outsider (more distant to the speaker).
 THE SAME PROBLEM

 Would his highness like some coffee?

→ In English, instead of saying my queen, the speaker
often says your majesty.
→ For a royal person, the speaker also says his
highness instead of using you.
 THE SAME PROBLEM

 Somebody didn’t clean up after himself.

→ Instead of calling the name of the person who has to
take responsibility to a failed action, the speaker refers
to a person who was not supposed to appear in the
context.

 somebody = you
 THE SAME PROBLEM

 Each person has to clean up after him or herself.

→ The distance implied here is shown in an impersonal
manner.

 impersonal = not referring to a particular person by name

 each person = you
 THE SAME PROBLEM

 We clean up after ourselves around here.

→ The same distance, but this time, it requires the
presence of the first person plural.

 we = you
 SUMP UP
 third-person pronouns = distal forms
→ A third-person form instead of a second-person form helps
to show communicating distance (and non-familiarity).
1. an ironic or humorous purpose
2. potential accusations
3. repeating a general rule (potentially impersonal issues)
4. repeating a general rule (the speaker involved with
others)
 ANOTHER PROBLEM

 We clean up…  We clean up…

= exclusive we = inclusive we

the speaker plus other(s), the speaker and addressee

excluding the addressee included
 ANOTHER PROBLEM

 It is up to the listener to decide whether he/ she is a

member of the group that is being mentioned or not.
→ There is more that is being communicated.

 mentioned = familiar
 not mentioned = non-familiar
Spatial Deixis

PART 3
 DISTANCE

 The concept of distance is somehow related to

spatial deixis, where the relative location of
people and things is being indicated.
→ Only here and there being mentioned.
→ Sometimes, come and go have a deictic sense.
1. Come to bed! (move toward the speaker)
2. Go to bed! (move away from the speaker)
 COME

 to move or travel towards the speaker or with the speaker

1. Are you coming with me?
2. There's a car coming!
3. Can you come to my party?
4. Here comes Adam.

Cambridge
 MOTION TOWARD SPEAKER
 this, here  that, there
→ becoming visible → can no longer be seen

Things that move toward Things that move out of

the speaker. one’s visual space.
 SPEAKER’S PERSPECTIVE

 Location from the perspective of the speaker can be

fixed mentally as well as physically.
→ here (meaning physically distant) is used to refer to the
speaker’s home location even when he is away.
→ The speaker sometimes projects himself into other
locations before coming to these places (deictic
projections).
PROBLEM

 here = the place of the speaker’s utterance

 now = the time of the speaker’s utterance
→ I am here now.
→ I am not here now. = nonsense
PROBLEM

 However, if this utterance is recorded (the recording is

a kind of dramatic performance) and later will be
played when someone calls the speaker, without him
answering the phone directly, then not here and now
(the time when the call is made) can go together.
→ The speaker projects his presence to be in the required
location for a future audience (deictic projection).
 PROBLEM
 I was looking at this little puppy in a cage with such a
sad look on its face. It was like, “Oh, I’m so unhappy
here, will you set me free?”
→ A similar deictic projection is accomplished via dramatic
performance when the speaker represents the person,
location, and feelings of someone. here is not the actual
physical location of the speaker, but of the person
performing in the role of the puppy.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE

 psychological distance = truly pragmatic basic of spatial

deixis
→ physically close objects = psychologically close
→ physically distant objects = psychologically distant
→ physically close objects = psychologically distant
 PSYCHOLOGICALLY DISTANT 1

 That man over there.

→ that and over there both refer to physically and
psychologically distant.
 PSYCHOLOGICALLY DISTANT 2

 I don’t like that.

→ that is used even when the speaker refers to a
perfume of the listener, who is physically close to the
speaker.
→ that does not have a fixed semantic meaning and its
meaning is related to the context in use.
 PROXIMAL VS. DISTAL

 The distinction between proximal and distal

expressions used to mark temporal deixis
should be discussed further.
Temporal Deixis

PART 4
 PROXIMAL FORM NOW

 the time coinciding with the speaker’s utterance

 the time of the speaker’s voice being heard (the hearer’s
now)
 DISTAL EXPRESSION THEN

 Past: Nov. 22nd, 1963? I was in Scotland then.

→ then = ?

 Future: Dinner at 8:30 on Saturday? Okay, I’ll see you

then.
→ now = Monday
→ then = Saturday
→ distance = Monday … Saturday
 NON-DEICTIC TEMPORAL REFERENCE

 Past: Nov. 22nd, 1963? I was in Scotland then.

→ Calendar Time (dates)

 Future: Dinner at 8:30 on Saturday? Okay, I’ll see you

then.
→ Clock Time (hours)
 COMPARISON

 These forms of temporal reference (non-deictic) are

learned a lot later than deictic expressions like
yesterday, tomorrow, etc.
→ These expressions’ interpretation depends on
knowing the relevant utterance time.
 COMPARISON

 Back in an hour.
→ Difficult to say whether an hour is 60 minutes or less.
1. 9.30 the writer wrote this note and now it is 10.
2. 9.30 the writer wrote this note and it is 10.25
already.
 COMPARISON

 Free Beer Tomorrow

→ Maybe tomorrow mentioned here is the next day, so
it is earlier for the reader (and (beer) available as well).
 PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS

 Events can be treated like objects, which can move toward

us (into view) or away from us (out of view).
1. events coming toward the speaker from the future
→ the coming week, the approaching year
2. events going away from the speaker to the past
→ in days gone by, the past week
 PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS

 Events can be treated like objects, which can move toward

us (into view) or away from us (out of view).
3. events near or immediate future considered close to
utterance time
→ this coming weekend, this coming Thursday
 ANOTHER BASIS

 Verb Tense is another basis type, to be exact, the

choice of verb tense.
1. the present: I live here now. → proximal form
2. the past: I lived there then. → distal form
 ANOTHER BASIS

 There are also other cases to be considered.

1. I could swim (when I was a child).
→ An event having taken place in the past is typically
treated as distant from the speaker’s current situation.
 ANOTHER BASIS

 There are also other cases to be considered.

2. I could be in Hawaii (if I had a lot of money).
→ Something that is treated as extremely unlikely (or
even impossible) from the speaker’s current situation can
be marked via the distal (past tense) form.
 ANOTHER BASIS
 There are also other cases to be considered.
3. If I had a yacht,…
→ Events presented by the speaker as not being close to
present reality are also marked.
→ Such an event (above) will not be treated as having
happened in past time. It is presented as deictically
distant from the speaker’s current situation.
→ The speaker communicates the negative (so distant).
 CONCLUSION

 In temporal deixis, the remote or distal form can be used to

communicate not only distance from current time, but also
distance from current reality or facts.
Deixis and Grammar

PART 5
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

 Are you planning to be here this evening?

→ direct speech

 I asked her if she was planning to be there that

evening.
→ indirect speech
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

 Deictic Expressions for direct speech

1. person: you
2. place: here
3. time: this evening
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

 Deictic Expressions for indirect speech

1. person: she, her
2. place: there
3. time: that evening
→ The utterance reported is marked deictically as relative
to the circumstances of asking.
→ The proximal forms presented before shift to the
corresponding distal forms above.
 CONNECTION?

 Proximal Form in Direct Speech

→ the nearer speaker meaning of direct speech
→ the proximal deictic forms of direct speech reporting
communicate a sense of being in the same context as the
utterance
 CONNECTION?

 Distal Form in Indirect Speech

→ the away from speaker meaning of indirect speech
→ the distal deictic forms of indirect speech reporting
make the original speech even seem more remote
 CONCLUSION
 Deictic expressions are found in the pragmatic
wastebasket.
 Their interpretation depends on:
1. context
2. speaker’s intention
3. relative distance expressed
 Deictic expressions communicate much more than is said.