deixis

Definitions

The use of a word, such as a pronoun, to refer to something that must be identified from the wider context; a word used in such a way.

countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Deixis allows for economy of speech but introduces ambiguity when that speech is recorded.”

“Deixis is a technical term (from Greek) for one of the most basic things we do with utterances. It means 'pointing' via language. Any linguistic form⟳ used to accomplish this 'pointing' is called a deictic expression. When you notice⟳ a strange object and ask⟳, 'What's that?', you are using a deictic expression ('that') to indicate⟳ something in the immediate context. Deictic expressions are also sometimes called indexicals. They are among the first forms to be spoken by very young children and […]”

“For those who treat⟳ language as a generative system for objectively describing the world, deixis is a big black fly⟳ in the ointment. Deixis introduces subjective, attentional, intentional and, of course, context-dependent properties into natural languages.”

CEFR level