Definition
Deixis is reference by means of an expression whose interpretation is relative to the (usually) extralinguistic context of the utterance, such as:
- who is speaking
- the time or place of speaking
- the gestures of the speaker
- the current location in the discourse
Examples
(English)
Here are examples of deictic expressions:
- I
- You
- Now
- There
- That
- The following
- Tenses
Kinds
More specific concepts within deixis.
Sources 4
- Crystal 1980, 103
- Levinson 1983, 54–56
- Mish 1991, 335
- Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985, 1025