Deixis
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
Source:
This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.