语用学论文Word文档格式.docx

1、. Introduction to deixis1. Definition of deixisDeixis, a term derived from the Greek word, meaning “pointing” via language, refers to a particular way in which the interpretation of certain linguistic expression is dependent on the context in which they are produced or interpreted. Deixis concerns t

2、he use of certain linguistic expression to locate entities in spatio-temporal, social and discoursal contexts. In linguistic, deixis refers to the phenomenon wherein understanding the meaning of certain words and phrases in an utterance requires contextual information.2. Classification of deixisDeix

3、is is a universal linguistic phenomenon. This is because language communication always happens with people participating, in a certain place at a certain time. We can not communicate without making any reference to people, place and time.The traditional categories of deixis are based on person deixi

4、s （I, you, we）; place deixis （here, there）; time deixis （now, then, and verb tense makers）, to which Fillmore （1975） in his Santa Crux Lectures on Deixis published in 1971 adds two more categories, those constitute discourse deixis （eg. the use of furthermore, however, etc.） as well as those that en

5、code aspects of the social relationship between speaker and addressee, or other referents in their environment, and constitute social deixis （eg.the French tu/vous distinction）. So far, five classes of deixis have been recognized by most linguists. The followings are examples:（1）. “We” think and fee

6、l, and use language to induce parallel thoughts and feelings in others. （Person deixis）（2）. It is very cold out “there”. （Place deixis）（3）. We will leave for Beijing “tomorrow”. （Time deixis）（4）. “In other words”, we interpret particular instances of language by referring them to general scheme. （Te

7、xt deixis）（5）. Where are you heading, Lao Wang? （Social deixis）3. Egocentricity of deixisDeictic centers are typically assumed to be as follows. （1）. The central person is the speaker; （2）. The central time is the time at which the speaker produces the utterance; （3）. The central place is the speake

8、rs location at utterance time; （4）. The discourse center is the point which the speaker is currently at in the production of his utterance; （5）. The social center is the speakers social status and rank, to which the status or rank of addressees or referents is relative. （Levinson, 1983:64）Deixis is

9、clearly a form of referring that is tied to the speakers context, with the most basic distinction between deictic expressions being near speaker versus away from speaker. In English, the near speaker, or proximal terms, are this, here, now. The away from speaker, or distal terms, are that, there, th

10、en. Referential function of deixis The most outstanding feature of deixis is that it maintains the referential function. So next were going to illustrate its referential function from the following aspects.1. Person deixisPerson deixis concerns itself with the grammatical persons involved in an utte

11、rance, those directly involved （eg. the speaker, the addressee）, those not directly involved （eg. overhears those who hear the utterance but who are not being directly addressed）, and those mentioned in the utterance. In English, the distinctions are generally indicated by pronouns. The following ex

12、amples show how.I am going to the movies.Would you like to have dinner?They tried to hurt me, but he came to the rescue.Its known that the above three sentences have their respective meanings happening in a certain context. So the pronouns have their references. We can see “I” refers to the speaker;

13、 “You” refers to the listener; “They” and “He” refer to person not here. So the special reference is what we call referential function of person deixis. Besides, a fairly well-known example of a social contrast encoded within person deixis is the distinction between forms used for a familiar versus

14、a non-familiar addressee in some language. This is known as the T/V distinction. The choice of one form will certainly communicate something （not directly said） about the speakers view of his or her relationship with the addressee. In those social contexts individuals typically mark distinctions bet

15、ween the social status of the speaker and addressees. T/V distinction also reflects the referential function of person deixis.2. Place deixisPlace deixis, also known as space deixis, concerns itself with the spatial locations relevant to an utterance. Similarly to person deixis, the locations may be

16、 either those of the speaker and addressee or those of persons or objects being referred to. The most salient English examples are the adverbs “here” and “there”, and the demonstratives “this” and “that”-although those are far from being the only deictic words.Some examples: I enjoy living in this c

17、ity. Here is where we will place the statue. She was sitting over there.From the examples, we can see “this city”, “here” and “there” are all specified which are interpreted by both speaker and listener. Listener can understand what speaker said about the specific place according to their contextual

18、 interpretation. It is interesting to note that while “here” and “there” are often used to refer to locations near to and far from the speaker, respectively, “there” can also refer to the location of the addressee, if they are not in the same location as the speaker. So, while Here is a good spot; i

19、t is too sunny over there.exemplifies the former usage, How is the weather there?is an example of the latter.So, we can conclude that the above discussions are relevant to referential function of place deixis.3. Time deixisTime or temporal deixis concerns itself with the various times involved in an

20、d referred to in an utterance. This includes time adverbs like “now”, “then”, “soon”, and so forth, and also different tenses. A good example is the word tomorrow, which denotes the consecutive next day after everyday. The “tomorrow” of a day last year was a different day than the “tomorrow” of a da

21、y next week. Time adverbs can be relative to the time when an utterance is made （what Fillmore calls the “encoding time”, or ET） or when the utterance is heard （Fillmores “decoding time”, or DT）. While these are frequently the same time, they can differ, as in the case of prerecorded broadcasts of c

22、orrespondence. For example, if one were to write It is raining out now, but I hope when you read this it will be sunny.the ET and DT would be different, with the former deictic term concerning ET and the latter the DT.Tenses are generally separated into absolute （deictic） and relative tenses. So, fo

23、r example, simple English past tense is absolute, such as in He went.while the pluperfect is relative to some other deictically specified time, as in He had gone.The referential time deixis has its specific meaning, the above examples are the best reflection of referential function of time deixis, w

24、hich refer to a certain time some actions take place, and we should pay attention to this aspect of referential function.4. Discourse deixisDiscourse deixis, also referred to as text deixis, and refers to the use of expressions within an utterance to refer to parts of the discourse that contains the

25、 utterance-including the utterance itself. For example, in This is a great story. “This” refers to an upcoming portion of the discourse, and inThat was an amazing day.“That” refers to a prior portion of the discourse.5. Social deixisSocial deixis concerns social information that is encoded within va

26、rious expressions, such as relative social status and familiarity. Two major forms of it are the so-called T-V distinctions and honorifics, which we have mentioned before. The above discussions are all concerned with the referential function of deixis. Next I will mainly introduce you the non-refere

27、ntial function of deixis. . Non-referential function of deixis Deixis not only has its referential function, but also has non-referential function, which we dont attach great importance to. The following will focus on this aspect.There are two types of person deixis as to the non-referential functio

28、n: one is the use of extensive person, the other is reference in context （anaphora & cataphora）. （1）. Non-referential function singular first person deixis （I）.This function refers to person pronoun replacing the non-infinitive pronoun in a informal context. The “I” not refers to the specific speake

29、r or listener, but refers to the whole class including speaker and listener; “I” no more maintains the referential meaning, but the non-referential meaning. For example, If people dont offend me, I wont; if people offend, I will.Here, “I” refers to the China Communist Party, not Chairman Mao, in thi

30、s sentence; “I” dont refer to a specific speaker, but refers to everyman in the Communist Party. This is the non-referential function of person deixis.（2）. Non-referential function of the plural first person deixis （we）.First, lets see an example.I believe, we wont let down the Communist Party and the whole country.“we” has the friendly relatio