Deixis in the Dagaare Nominal Group: Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Perspectives

Abstract

Although the use of multiple deictic items such as definite articles, possessives and demonstratives in the nominal group of many languages has been noted in the literature, the motivation for this phenomenon is often unexplained. The present study examines this phenomenon in the Lobr dialect of Dagaare (Niger-Congo: Mabia/Gur) from both syntagmatic and paradigmatic perspectives. It first identifies three deictic functions in the structure of the Dagaare nominal group: Deictic1 ^ Deictic2 ^ Classifier ^ Thing ^ Epithet ^ Numerative ^ Deictic3 ^ Qualifier. Second, the study shows that the system of deixis in the Dagaare nominal group involves a division of semiotic labor among deictic elements in the realization of (participant) identification, person systems and specificity. Specifically, the definite article is used as a participant tracking device, including the reactivation of participants with unique reference from the common memory of the speaker and addressee. Demonstratives are specificity marking devices and thus encode discrete semantic information of referents, while indefinite determiners are non-specificity markers. The study combines issues that have been pursued as separate topics in the literature to shed insights on deixis in the nominal group as well as related concepts such as definiteness and specificity.