Deixis refers to context-dependent words and phrases that have a fixed semantic meaning but require additional discourse to determine their exact meaning. Pronouns like “you” and “me” are prime examples. Deixis can involve evaluating a point of reference, such as person, place, or time. It can also refer to abstract or intangible feelings. Body language and sign language can also be deictic. Understanding deixis is part of high-level linguistics that seeks to understand human communication.
Deixis is a linguistic concept that refers to words and sentences. Some words or phrases are said to be deictic. These words and phrases have a fixed semantic meaning, but their exact meaning depends on a larger context. Some also describe these words or phrases as changing according to “time or place,” but the underlying idea is that additional contextual discourse determines the exact meaning of deictic utterances.
Many prime examples of deictic words are pronouns. There are many pronouns which, without a greater context, do not designate a specific person or figure. This makes these pronouns context-dependent or deictic. For example, when a speaker says “you” or “me,” others outside the frame of reference won’t know who those pronouns are referring to. If, on the other hand, a speaker says “John Smith” or “Patrick Robinson”, it is immediately clear which people he is referring to. Pronouns including “you” and “me” are therefore deictic.
Deixis generally involves evaluating a point of reference. Specific types of deixis work differently. An example is a deictic “person sentence”, where the reader or observer considers the deictic word or phrase in relation to the speaker and the person being spoken to. Different types of deictic person sentences include first and second person words or phrases.
Another main type of deictic category is locus deixis. Some simple words refer to the place in a vague or general way. Again, without context, these words are somewhat semantically useless. Examples of deictic place sentences in English include “this”, “that”, “here” or “there”.
Linguists can also look at examples of what is called temporal deixis. Deictic tense sentences are vague or unqualified references to a tense. Examples in English include “now” and “then.”
In addition to this type of deictic sentences, there are other types of similar semantic problems in which simple concrete words refer to vague abstract or other intangible feelings. The use of words such as “this” or “that” to refer to emotional outcomes or other intangibles are prime examples of this linguistic phenomenon. These broad forms of deixis serve to illustrate the many ways speakers of a language derive meaning from a sophisticated semantic context for words or phrases.
In addition to all the ways words can depend on other words and phrases, alternative forms of expression can also be deictic, such as body language and sign language. Linguists can also look to these more abstract forms of deictic phrasing to understand how understanding ideas involves more than just auditory input. This is all part of high-level linguistics that seeks to understand how humans communicate.
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