Reference by Deference: The Real Semiotic Profile of Indexicals and Their Context

Abstract

AbstractThis article aims at proposing an account of the linguistic meaning (or: character) of pure indexicals (indexicals, for short). On its core theoretical proposal, a deference mechanism is built into the meaning of indexicals, and this mechanism defers the task of reference to contextually‐given designation relations. The basic motivation for this claim is that the contexts of tokening of indexicals, be they perceptual or discursive, are rich semiotic entities that provide designation relations that pre‐exist the interpretation of such indexicals. The latter, on my suggestion, would thus be deferential devices through which language exploits these semiotic elements of contexts. I make a case for this deferentialist image by first taking issue with intentionalism and token‐reflexivism concerning the use of indexicals in face‐to‐face communication. I argue for the possibility of indexicals having perceptual reference, claiming that intentionalism can account only for a pragmatic content that is sometimes added to the semantic content, but not for the semantic content itself, and that token‐reflexivism gives norms for the perceptual reference of indexicals, but not the reference operation itself. I then proceed to extend deferentialism to indexical expressions in general on the one hand, and to anaphoric uses of pure indexicals on the other.