1. That stone head finally listened to the
researchers after blown away by their
invention which is a bomb.
Decide whether or not the sentence above is true based on
syntax and semantics point of views, as well as make sense
due to pragmatics principle. Explain your argument.

2. DEIXIS AND DISTANCE
2.1 Person Deixis
2.2 Spatial Deixis
2.3 Temporal Deixis
2.4 Deixis and Grammar

3. DEIXES

Deixis (Greek): „pointing‟ via language

Deictic expression= indexicals: any linguistic form used to
accomplish this „pointing‟

Deixis is tied to the speaker‟s context with diectic expressions
„near speaker‟
„away from speaker‟
proximal terms
this
here
now
distal terms
that
there
then

4. Deixis
person
to indicate
people
spatial
temporal
to indicate
location
to indicate
time

5. 2.1 PERSON DEIXIS
- inclusive we: S + A
- exclusive we: S + A + O
First person

It operates on
a basic
3-part division:
I
Second person : You
Third person: she, he, it

6. 
In many languages, person deixis is elaborated
with markers of relative social status

Person deixis = social deixis = include social status
e.g T/V distinction

Honorifics: expressions which indicate higher
status

In deitic terms, the 3 rd person is not a direct
participant in basic (I-You) interaction, and being
outsider = more distant

7. an ironic or
humorous
purpose
the 3rd person
Communicating
distance
make potential
accusation less
direct
make personal
issue seem like
impersonal one
state general
„rules‟

8. - an ironic or humorous purpose
E.g. “Would his highness like some coffee?”
(one person is very busy in the kitchen,
addresses another, who‟s being lazy)
- make potential accusation less direct
E.g. “Somebody didn‟t clean up after himself”
(instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”)
- make personal issue seem like impersonal one
E.g. “Each person has to clean up after him or
herself”
(instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”)
- state general „rules‟
E.g. “We clean up after ourselves around here”
(instead of saying “you didn‟t clean up”)

9. 2.2. SPATIAL DEIXIS
-People‟s
location and things is being indicated
e.g. here and there
-Motion
toward speaker
e.g. come  “come to bed!”
go ”go to bed!”

10. Deictic projection:
speaker seems projects themselves into other locations
- Project to other location prior to actually being in those
locations.
e.g. “I‟ll come here later”
-
Technology manipulate location.
e.g. “I‟m not here now”(recorder of a telephone
answering machine)
-
Dramatic performance to represent the person, location,
and feeling.
e.g. “I was looking at this little puppy in a cage
with such a sad look on its face. It was
like
“Oh, I‟m so unhappy here, will you set
me
free?””

11.  Psychological
distance:
Physically close objects will tend to be treated by
the speaker as psychologically close.
-
Physically distant objects will tend to be treated by
the speaker as psychologically distant.
E.g. “the man over there”
-
Mark something that physically close as
psychologically distant
E.g. “I don‟t like that”
(after sniffing a parfume)

12. 2.3 TEMPORAL DEIXIS
„now‟: the time coinciding with the speaker‟s utterance and the
time of the speaker‟s voice being heard
 The distal expression “then” can be:
Interpretation on knowing relevant utterance time
-Past time
e.g “November 22nd, 1990? I was in Surabaya, then.”

- Future time
e.g “Dinner at 8 on Saturday? Ok. I‟ll see you then.”
Unrecognized time
e.g “Back in hour.” (we don‟t know the time when it was put)
“Free soft drink tomorrow.” (1 day earlier)
-

13. Proximal form:
Distal form:
Close to current
situation
Distant from current
situation
Present tense
e.g. I live here now
Past tense
e.g. I lived there
then
 Something is treated as extremely impossible from
the current speaker ‟s situation = not close to
present reality
e.g. I could be in Hawaii (if I had a lot of money)
If I had a yacht,….
If I was rich, ….

14. 2.4 DEIXIS AND GRAMMAR
Grammar brings different interpretation
 Proximal deictic:
e.g. are you planning to be here this evening?
(direct speech)
 Distal deictic:
e.g. I asked her if she was planning to be there that
evening.
(indirect speech)
The interpretation of deictic expression depends on:
 Context
 Speaker‟s intention
 Express relative distance
Dietic expressions always communicate more than is said

15. EXERCISE
1. To which deixis do these signs belong to? Analyze them, and
interpret their meanings.
E.g.
1.1.
-Last: temporal deixis  the last car that was seen by the speaker
at a particular time in the past
-…
-…
General interpretation:

16. e.g.
Yesterday: temporal diexis  distal form