Deixis and distance – pragmatics – George yule
What is Deixis?
Before we approach Deixis itself, it is important to remember that we
are focusing on the area of the study of language called pragmatics.
So, in this field, the use of language is analyzed in a shared context
between the speaker and the addressee (Yule, 1983, p.26), and that
dynamic is essential to understand the meaning of an utterance or a
sentence. So, having this in mind, we go now for the concept of
Deixis and its importance within pragmatics.
According to George Yule, in his Pragmatics, Deixis is a technical
term, whose original meaning comes from the Greek, and is
something related to INDICATE or POINTING, via language.
It means, basically, the attitude the speaker takes in language by
“pointing” -- via specific words --, and indicating something in his
immediate and shared context with the addressee. Both of them must
share the same context in order to produce meaning, when using
deictic expressions.
Deictic expressions can indicate person (“me”, “you”), location
(“here”, “there”) and time (“now”, “then”), and right here we are
talking about words we use to refer, demonstrate, and indicate to
specific time, location and person, in a shared context. Demonstrating
and pointing a reference.
We also have the distal terms – “that”, “there”, “then”; and the
proximal terms – “this”, “here”, “now”. Both of them are specifying
the distance and proximity of the deictic center, when we talk about
speaker’s location.
In person deixis, as an example, we may see – “I” – as the speaker;
and “you” – as the addressee. It may appear simple, but we must be
careful because the people in the conversation may play the role as “I”
and “you” in different ways. They may shift between them.
In spatial deixis, we’ll have the concept of distance as something
very relevant, when location of people is indicated, and we see that by
specific by the use of the adverbs, and also proximal and distal terms
“here” and "there". And that distance can be measured not just
physically, but also mentally/psychologically. For example, when I
use “here”, to mention Maré to foreign people, while I’m exactly in
the favela.
And in the temporal deixis, the proximal form “now” indicates both
the time coinciding with the speaker’s utterance and the time of the
speaker’s being heard. So the term “now” indicates proximity of time,
while the term “then”, may indicate other moment in time, like past or
future.
October, 19th, 2022? I was beginning my course at UERJ then.
Party tomorrow? I’ll be there then.
