Explanation
A person-oriented demonstrative system organises referents according to whether they are located near the speaker, near the addressee, or beyond both proximal regions. Unlike a simple proximal-distal contrast, such a system builds the interlocutor's position into the grammar of pointing as an independent centre of orientation. Japanese series such as kono, sono, and ano are often described this way, but three-term systems are not automatically person-oriented: they may instead encode degrees of distance. Gesture, visibility, and interactional setting may also affect selection. The concept therefore reveals not merely three words but a relational spatial order. Pointing begins from a deictic origo yet becomes a shared geometry organised between at least two centres of attention.
Movement of thought
1. A referent is first to be identified in shared perceptual space while speaker and addressee occupy different spatial positions. 2. The language provides distinct demonstrative forms for proximity to speaker, proximity to addressee, and distance from both centres of orientation. 3. The selected form locates the referent relationally and incorporates the interlocutor's position into the linguistic act of pointing. 4. A counter-test examines language data, use, and gesture and separates person orientation from three distance degrees or social deixis. 5. Space returns as a jointly negotiated map: the other person is not merely an addressee but a grammatical centre of pointing.
Scientific use case
Linguistic typology, field linguistics, and pragmatics combine elicitation, video, and natural interaction. Contrastive scenarios test speaker, addressee, and distance orientation and prevent inference from dictionary glosses alone.
Example
A speaker selects the addressee-proximal form for a book beside her interlocutor although it is as far from her as another book in neutral space; person position helps determine the choice.
Counterexample
A system with forms for near, medial, and very far has three distance terms. If no form is specifically oriented to addressee proximity, that fact alone does not make it person-oriented.
Distinction
Distinguish person-oriented systems from simple proximal-distal contrasts, multi-term distance-oriented demonstratives, social deixis, person deixis, and the origo as the general deictic point of departure.
Effect on thought and perception
The system turns pointing into relational spatial coordination and makes the interlocutor's position a grammatically relevant centre of joint attention.
Resonance
An object is not merely here or there; the form that names its location answers two bodies in space and creates a shared deictic geometry between them.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Person-oriented demonstrative system“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-145-004. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-145-004The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.
Historical background
Using a model scene involving a farmer and a duck, Sapir in 1921 identifies spatial and referential relations left unexpressed in his English and German examples. His subsequent paraphrases introduce visibility and location relative to speaker, hearer or a distant reference point. He presents such demonstrative elaboration as natural in Kwakiutl. This is a historical typological comparison, rather than a newly verified comprehensive description of that system.
How conceptual history changes the analysis
Person-related anchors, distance and visibility are different parameters of demonstrative reference.
References for the historical section
- Edward Sapir, Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech (1921) · Chapter V, farmer–duckling scene paraphrased around speaker and addressee
Original English text read in the Gutenberg transcription. No first-coinage claim, full-book verification or automatic endorsement of the author’s 1921 language classifications and generalisations. Examples require modern descriptive checking before reuse as current language data.