Deictic Systems Research Articles

Exploring Hindko Indexicals: A Pragmatic Analysis with Implications for Language Teaching

The study aims to address the challenges faced by English language teachers and learners in multilingual contexts by examining the deictic expressions in Hindko, an under-documented and endangered language. In a world where linguistic diversity is increasingly threatened, documenting lesser-known languages like Hindko becomes imperative to preserve cultural heritage and enrich linguistic understanding. This research focuses on the comparative analysis of deictic expressions in Hindko and English, specifically exploring person, spatial, and temporal deixis. By elucidating the differences between these languages' deictic systems, the study aims to equip English language teachers with insights into potential pitfalls Hindko-speaking learners may encounter when acquiring English deixis. Moreover, the research identifies common errors made by Hindko-speaking learners and provides strategies for addressing these challenges in English language teaching. Additionally, the study enhances linguistic knowledge by delving into the intricacies of marking numbers and gender on Hindko indexical, offering learners and language teachers a deeper understanding of linguistic diversity and cultural nuances. Through its findings, this research contributes to the broader scope of English Language Teaching by fostering cross-linguistic awareness, promoting cultural sensitivity, and enhancing language instruction in diverse educational settings. Keywords: Deixis; deictic expression_indexical.

An information-theoretic approach to the typology of spatial demonstratives

We explore systems of spatial deictic words (such as ‘here’ and ‘there’) from the perspective of communicative efficiency using typological data from over 200 languages Nintemann et al. (2020). We argue from an information-theoretic perspective that spatial deictic systems balance informativity and complexity in the sense of the Information Bottleneck (Zaslavsky et al., (2018). We find that under an appropriate choice of cost function and need probability over meanings, among all the 21,146 theoretically possible spatial deictic systems, those adopted by real languages lie near an efficient frontier of informativity and complexity. Moreover, we find that the conditions that the need probability and the cost function need to satisfy for this result are consistent with the cognitive science literature on spatial cognition, especially regarding the source–goal asymmetry. We further show that the typological data are better explained by introducing a notion of consistency into the Information Bottleneck framework, which is jointly optimized along with informativity and complexity.

FRAMES OF REFERENCE FOR PLACE DESIGNATION IN THE LITERARY REPORTAGE “DER WALD DER GESCHICHTE – IN DER GOTTSCHEEˮ BY KARL-MARKUS GAUSS

Spatial phenomena, including the location of the event, the distance between the characters, the characterization of characters through spatial conditions, the symbolization of action by spatial phenomena, spatial descriptions and topoi are extremely important for a narrative text. The key unit of space is the place, the functionality and reference systems of which are the subject of this study. The purpose of the study is to identify the frames of reference of the place in Karl-Markus Gauss’s literary reportage “Der Wald der Geschichte – In der Gottsche,” to conduct their lexical-stylistic analysis and to determine their functional potential. Taking into account the dynamism of the literary reportage and its diachronic component, the problem of the frame of reference was chosen as the central one, since in this way it is possible not only to ascertain the presence of a description of individual places, but also to determine how they relate to each other in the plane of the text. It has been revealed that the author uses absolute (internal, topological, georeferenced, metric) and deictic systems to depict places. The analysis showed that the text is dominated by referential and metrical systems, as well as their combination. Topological and internal frames of reference occur less often and usually in combination with the previous two, and the used deixis is still specifi ed by clarifi cations from the absolute frame of reference. This indicates the author’s desire to strengthen the documentary level of literary reportage. One of the defi ning motifs is the dichotomy “then-now”, which is also conveyed mostly through descriptions of individual places which the author compares with the past. The system of places in space successfully built by the author in the text not only helps the reader better navigate the described world, but also makes it possible to create an imaginary map of the area. It serves as a kind of medium for conveying the historical and cultural aspects of the life of Gottscheers. Through the imagination of individual places, the author managed to textualize, enliven and convey to a wide range of readers what remained in the memories of several people. The geographical journey acquires a historical character, because with each place Gauss opens a new vertical axis for the reader, presenting it in a diachronic section, based on his own observations, historical facts, memories of residents, and statistical data. Key words: frame of reference, place, space, literary reportage, Karl-Markus Gauss.

Double Deictic Systems in Sasak Demonstratives: Noble versus Common Language

This paper aims at comparing two deictic systems of demonstratives used in the noble and common language of the Sasak language. These languages have a different deictic system but are used in the same community. The data were collected via participation observation and interview. The instrument used is the questionnaire on demonstratives developed by Eric & David Wilkins. The data are analyzed via an interactive model, which consists of three steps- data reduction, data display and data verification. This study results that the noble language has a two-way distinction of demonstrative, and the common language has a three-way distinction. In communication between the noble people and the common ones, the two-way distinction is mostly used to honor the status of the noble speaker, so the distal concept in the two-way system of noble demonstrative covers the concept of the three-way system in common demonstrative of Sasak language. Syntactically, noble demonstratives in the Sasak language have five types, namely, pronominal, adnominal, identification, location and verbal. These syntactic categorizations are significantly different compared to the common Sasak demonstratives.

Variation in first-generation L1 deictic systems: Language attrition and bilingualism effects

Aims and Objectives: This study explored the extent to which bilingual language exposure and practice might alter the way in which bilingual first-generation adult speakers use deictic demonstratives in their first language (Spanish) after immersion in a new language environment (Norwegian). Fully developed L1 systems are expected to be stable and less susceptible to change or restructuring than child systems. In addition, core domains of a language such as deictic demonstrative reference are hypothesized to be more robust. Design: Participants were tested with the Spanish version of the memory game. They completed an ethnolinguistic background questionnaire with questions targeting demographic data, experience with language, and daily routines in language use. Data and analyses: Demonstrative use was analysed using binomial multilevel modelling, allowing residual variance to be partitioned into a between-participant component and a within-participant component. Findings: Results demonstrate a shift in the demonstrative system of Spanish native speakers who have resided in Norway for a median of 6.5 years. This shift is reflected in extensive use of the semantically underspecified item ese at the expense of the form aquel. The latter form is less frequent and highly context-dependent in corpora of the modern language. It can be hypothesized that first-generation speakers are faster in converging on a simplified system of deictic reference than the native speaker group tested in Spain, but this development parallels tendencies observed in the monolingual variety of the language. This faster shift may well be influenced and catalysed by bilingual language practice. Originality: This article addresses a gap in research on deictic terms under conditions of language attrition. It documents a restructuring of the deictic system in first-generation speakers of Spanish residing in another country. The results suggest that marking peri-personal space is a core feature of deictic systems across languages, also preserved under deictic system shift.

Deictic Systems of Space and Time

Deictic Systems of Space and Time

The systems of demonstrative pronouns and derivative adverbs in the Dargin languages

This article is examines the demonstrative pronouns and derivative adverbs in a number of the Dargin languages and dialects. The Dargin languages have a rich deictic system that helps the native speakers to navigate in the severe conditions of mountain terrain, and found its reflection in pronouns and spatial adverbs. Recent changes observed in the traditional way of life of highlanders, along with the migration processes, lead to extinction of this layer of lexicon. The problem of early documentation and research of locative adverbs retains its relevance. The goal of this article lies in comparative analysis of the systems of demonstrative pronouns and spatial adverbs in different Dargin idioms. For achieving the set goal, the article employs descriptive methods and methods of field linguistics. This article is first to conduct the comparative analysis of locative adverbial form, which defines its scientific novelty. As a result, description is given to the deictic systems of pronouns and adverbs in the Akushin, Urakhin, Kajtak, Sanzhin and Itsari idioms. It is established that most Dargin idioms feature two forms of demonstrative pronouns, which differ depending on the visibility or vastness of the object. Various affixes allow forming spatial adverbs that can function in one of the local cases – lative, directive, essive, or elative. The obtained results can be valuable in preparing comparative-historical grammar of the Dargin languages.

Spatial deictics in translation

AbstractRecent research on deictic elements has made extensive use of translation corpora to demonstrate that asymmetries between translational paradigms signal subtle contrasts from a systemic and pragmatic perspective. The purpose of the present study is to identify translation correspondences of the English spatial demonstrativethisin Lithuanian and to discuss the contrastive features within the analytical framework of translational explicitation and implicitation. The results indicate that in the prototypical situational usage there is a high degree of correspondence betweenthisand its Lithuanian translation, while textual uses demonstrate low formal equivalence. A tendency to implicitate stems from the null subject construction and object ellipsis in Lithuanian and is also a result of the availability of facultative deictic words in Lithuanian. The apparent systemic difference between the deictic systems of English and Lithuanian indicates a tendency towards optional implicitation and stylistic variation in literary translation.

Topographical Deixis in Trans‐Himalayan (Sino‐Tibetan) Languages

Abstract‘Topographical deixis’ refers to a variety of spatial‐environmental deixis in which typically distal reference to entities is made in terms of a set of topographically‐anchored referential planes: most often, upward, downward, or on the same level. Thus defined, topographical deixis is a pervasive feature of Trans‐Himalayan (= Sino‐Tibetan) languages. However, while there have been several descriptions of Trans‐Himalayan topographical deixis at the language or subgroup level, there has been as yet no account of its overall status and distribution within the family. The primary goal of this paper is to provide an account of topographical deixis from a pan‐Trans‐Himalayan perspective, to the maximum extent possible on the basis of existing descriptions. It discusses its formal coding, functions, distribution within the family, and environmental correlations. In addition to providing a benchmark account of the nature and distribution of topographical deixis within the Trans‐Himalayan family, this study thus contributes to cross‐linguistic typologies of spatial deictic systems and their environmental‐interactional motivations more generally.

La traduzione delle espressioni deittiche

Le espressioni deittiche sono tutte le unita linguistiche che indicano la localizzazione di un oggetto nello spazio e nel tempo. Ogni lingua si caratterizza per l’altra struttura deittica dipendente da vari fattori linguistici ed extralinguistici. L’analisi dei fattori che condizionano i sistemi deittici dell’italiano, dello spagnolo e del polacco dimostra vari problemi legati alla traduzione di questo tipo di costruzioni linguistiche e propone distinti modi di risolverli.

The grammar of engagement II: typology and diachrony

abstractEngagement systemsencodethe relative accessibility of an entity or state of affairs to the speaker and addressee, and are thus underpinned by our social cognitive capacities. In our first foray into engagement (Part 1), we focused on specialised semantic contrasts as found in entity-level deictic systems, tailored to the primal scenario for establishing joint attention. This second paper broadens out to an exploration of engagement at the level of events and even metapropositions, and comments on how such systems may evolve. The languages Andoke and Kogi demonstrate what a canonical system of engagement with clausal scope looks like, symmetrically assigning ‘knowing’ and ‘unknowing’ values to speaker and addressee. Engagement is also found cross-cutting other epistemic categories such as evidentiality, for example where a complex assessment of relative speaker and addressee awareness concerns the source of information rather than the proposition itself. Data from the language Abui reveal that one way in which engagement systems can develop is by upscoping demonstratives, which normally denote entities, to apply at the level of events. We conclude by stressing the need for studies that focus on what difference it makes, in terms of communicative behaviour, for intersubjective coordination to be managed by engagement systems as opposed to other, non-grammaticalised means.

Language, Thought And Social Awareness: a Preliminary Anthropological Linguistic Investigation Of Time And Space in The Bima Language

This article discusses the connection between language and thought processes and its implication towards social consciousness and attitudes. The framework is developed from various concepts of linguistic relativity particularly temporal and spatial deictic systems. Data were introspectively collected from the Bima native speakers selected based on dialectal variation, topography, and political geography and descriptively analyzed by identifying, classifying, describing and explaining the connection between various linguistic forms and spatio-temporal dimensions and social consciousness. The study finds that the concept of time in the language is not only semantically realized in adverbs of time but also morphologically represented in linguistic markers of present, past and future. Space is realized through the choice of three-dimensional locative markers: ‘ake’ speaker proximity, ‘ede’ hearer proximity, and ‘aka’ speaker-hearer distant detachment. Location is also marked by other factors: topography, geography, trans-communication pathways, and socio-political vitality of referred area. The study shows a strong relationship in both expert and commoner speakers’ understanding of spatial and temporal concepts although explicit reference to space and time as required in the language does not significantly materialize in different attitudes toward them. Key Words: language, thought, social awareness, deictic systems

The grammar of engagement I: framework and initial exemplification

abstractHuman language offers rich ways to track, compare, and engage the attentional and epistemic states of interlocutors. While this task is central to everyday communication, our knowledge of the cross-linguistic grammatical means that target such intersubjective coordination has remained basic. In two serialised papers, we introduce the term ‘engagement’ to refer to grammaticalised means for encoding the relative mental directedness of speaker and addressee towards an entity or state of affairs, and describe examples of engagement systems from around the world. Engagement systems express the speaker’s assumptions about the degree to which their attention or knowledge is shared (or not shared) by the addressee. Engagement categories can operate at the level of entities in the here-and-now (deixis), in the unfolding discourse (definiteness vs indefiniteness), entire event-depicting propositions (through markers with clausal scope), and even metapropositions (potentially scoping over evidential values). In this first paper, we introduce engagement and situate it with respect to existing work on intersubjectivity in language. We then explore the key role of deixis in coordinating attention and expressing engagement, moving through increasingly intercognitive deictic systems from those that focus on the the location of the speaker, to those that encode the attentional state of the addressee.

Profiling Indo-Aryan in the Hindukush-Karakoram: A preliminary study of micro-typological patterns

Abstract The study is a typological profile of 31 Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Western Himalayan region (covering NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan, and parts of Kashmir). Native speakers were recruited to provide comparative data. This data, supplemented by reputable descriptions or field notes, was evaluated against a number of WALS- or WALS-like features, enabling a fine-tuned characterization of each language, taking different linguistic domains into account (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon). The emerging patterns were compared with global distributions as well as with characteristic IA features and well-known areal patterns. Some features, mainly syntactic, turned out to be shared with IA in general, whereas others do have scattered reflexes in IA outside of the region but are especially prevalent in the region: large consonant inventories, tripartite pronominal case alignment, a high frequency of left-branching constructions, and multi-degree deictic systems. Yet other features display a high degree of diversity, often bundling subareally. Finally, there was a significant clustering of features that are not characterizing IA in general: tripartite affricate differentiation, retroflexion across several subsets, aspiration contrasts involving voiceless consonants only, tonal contrasts and 20-based numerals. This clustering forms a “hard core” at the centre of the region, gradually fading out toward its peripheries.

Comparative Analysis of Semantic and Morphosyntactic Peculiarities of the Demonstratives in the Eastern Khanty and the Southern-Central Selkup Languages

This research deals with semantic and morphosyntactic peculiarities of the demonstratives in two indigenous languages of Western Siberia: Khanty and Selkup. Comparative analysis of demonstratives is mainly based on the dialects of the Eastern Khanty and the Southern-Central Selkup languages. These dialects of Khanty and Selkup languages are less described and highly endangered. The speakers of the Eastern Khanty and Southern-Central Selkup, due to their mixed residence in area of the middle Ob river and some of its tributaries in Tomsk region, are supposed to have been being in the extended ‘cultural and linguistic contact’. The aim of our paper is to research similarities and differences in the deictic systems of the demonstratives in the described languages. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s1p527

The de-iconization and rebuilding of iconicity in spatial deixis

This paper investigates iconicity as a possible driving force behind the rebuilding of deictic systems and forms in individual languages. A comparison of a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European deictic system (based mainly on Beekes, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 1995) compared with the systems of attested Indo-European languages makes it clear that both systems and forms have undergone change, may it be through sound change, analogy, and/or semantic change. Based on the assumptions by Ultan (Universals of Human Language 2, Phonology, 1978), Woodworth (1991), Traunmüller (Tongues and Texts Unlimited. Studies in Honour of Tore Jansson on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Anniversary, 1994), and Johansson and Zlatev (Motivations for Sound Symbolism in Spatial Deixis: A Typological Study of 101 languages. The Public Journal of Semiotics, 2013), iconicity obviously plays a role in the synchronic systems of spatial deixis, which in turn indicates the iconicity has played a role on the process of change, both of the forms themselves and the systems as such. Data from 13 contemporary and 17 historical languages, belonging to 12 Indo-European branches was used. Vowels and consonants were divided into voiceless sounds as being more proximal, and voiced sounds being more distal (see the explanation below). The voiced sounds were divided according to the frequency of their f2, with [i] and voiced palatal consonants as more proximal and [u] as more distal (Ohala, Sound Symbolism, 1994). Results were divided into motivated (fulfilling the expected relation between deictic form and sound value), non-motivated (arbitrary), and reversed-motivated (the reverse of motivated). Five strategies of rebuilding deictic systems and forms were identified. None of the languages investigated have used a system identical to the Proto-Indo-European reconstructed system. Mostly internal material from the Proto-Indo-European deictic system was used in the forms of the systems of the daughter languages. Generally, a statistically significant motivated support was found: 70.2% of the forms of the languages used were identified as motivated, 9.2–10.4% were non-motivated and 19.4–20.7% reversed-motivated. Due to the different strategies of rebuilding systems and forms, generative explanations for the motivated support should be excluded. Hence, iconicity seemed to be reintroduced after the decay, by means of language change, of a former (motivated) deictic system. Therefore, it turned out as a very likely conclusion that iconicity has been and is involved in the rebuilding of deictic material, relating to the systems as such.

Use and Translation of Demonstratives in Fiction: A Contrastive Approach (English-Catalan)

Demonstratives are usually described as prototypical situational space deictics, but corpus analysis shows that situational deixis is not the most frequent function that they perform. This article shows the complexity of the use of demonstratives and the effects of such complexity on translation by analyzing some English examples and their translation into Catalan in two novels. Specifically, the English demonstratives this/these/that/those and their Catalan counterparts have been identified as a first step of the analysis. Secondly, their use has been analyzed taking into account the differences of the two deictic systems and other relevant variables. Finally, the general strategies activated in translation have been identified and described. The contrastive analysis highlights that non-situational uses outnumber situational ones, both in the English originals and the Catalan translations. It also gives some evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the different behavior of situational and non-situationa...

Deiktinės sistemos baltų kalbų tarmėse

DEICTIC SYSTEMS IN BALTIC DIALECTSSummaryThe article is an attempt to investigate the Baltic deictic systems and to present the motivation of their systematic restructuring. The following conclusions can be drawn:1. Binomial deictic systems appear to predominate in Baltic dialects.2. The binomial deictic systems (as well as the one-member system in the Samogitian dialect) derive from three-member systems.3. The reconstruction of the common Baltic three-member deictic protosystem could be considered valid if it were to be assumed that the pronoun *vin(E) (j)is → viņš “that” had been early substituted for the Proto-Latvian pronoun *anas (cf. o-trs “second” < *an-taras).4. Diachronically Lithuanian and Prussian stand in closer affinity to each other than to Lat­vian; the latter possesses a different pronoun to indicate non-proximity in its three-member deic­tic system.5. Synchronically the Latgalian and the Lithuanian East Highland (Aukštaičiai) subdialects are, however, in closer affinity to each other; they are characterized by structurally similar bino­mial deictic systems, cf. Lat. itys / tys and Lith. itas / tas.6. The Lithuanian Samogitian dialect and some Latvian Liiv subdialects come close by their one-member deictic systems.7. The marked members of modern deictic systems, such as Lith. šitas, itas, Lat. šitas, itys, sitȩntas, šitȩnais, are independent derivatives of individual Baltic dialects. The derivatives in ques­tion appeared in dialects after the phonological changes in word-final position.8. New deictic systems of demonstrative pronouns can be formed by: a) combining a demonstrative word (local adverb) with a demonstrative pronoun, e.g. Lat. *it(E) “here” + ti/ys → iti/ys, Lith. it(ai) or *it(E) “here” + tas → itas, Lat. šitȩn “here” + tas → šitȩntas, *šitȩnE “here” + (j)is → šitȩnais, šitȩneis; b) combining stems of two demonstrative pronouns of a similar deictic meaning, e.g. Lith. ši- + tas → šitas “this”.9. Typologically the Prussian language and the Western dialects of East Baits, characterized by binomial deictic systems, approach the Finno-Ugrian languages which have binomial deictic systems as well, cf. Lat. šis / tas (Puze, Skrunda), Pruss. schis / stas and Est. see / too.10. The binomial deictic systems of the Baltic Eastern dialects are structurally similar to those of the East Slavonic languages, cf. Lat. itys j tys, Lith. itas / tas and Russ. этот / mom, Byeloruss. гэтот / тот, йэтот / mom.11. The Samogitian dialect and some Liiv subdialects are typologically similar to the Liiv and the Swedish languages by their one-member deictic systems, cf. Liiv sìe, Lat. and Sam. tas, Sw. den. The opposition proximity / non-proximity is expressed by the words “here”/“there”, cf. Sam. šitã˙- tas “this”/untã˙ tàs “that”, Lat. tas te “this”/tas tur “that” and Sw. Derme boka her er bedre enn den boka der.

Deictic Systems of Space and Time

Deictic Systems of Space and Time

Deictification: the development of secondary deictic meanings by adjectives in the English NP

In this article we make a case for recognizing deictification as a type of grammaticalization and semantic shift in the NP analogous to auxiliarization in the VP. The specific analogy we point out is between lexical verbs that grammaticalize into secondary auxiliaries bound by the finite, as in is going to, has to + verb, and lexically full adjectives that grammaticalize into postdeterminers bound by the primary determiner, as in a different, the same + noun. We present five case studies of the development of postdeterminer meanings, based on the analysis of diachronic and synchronic data. The adjectives studied are opposite, complete, old, regular and necessary, whose postdeterminer uses relate to the basic deictic systems of space, quantity, time and modality. Our analysis of the data shows that the mechanism of secondary deictification can be given a unified characterization as the semantic shift by which a general relation expressed by the adjective is given a subjective reference point in or relative to the speech event.