ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

AT-PRA-0001 · ATLAS 260

Deixis

Reference whose interpretation depends on speaker, place, time, or discourse position.

Part of the subject path Pragmatics and Conversation

Why is this entry in the Atlas?

A · Analytical concept R1 · Distinct contribution to understanding

Deixis connects linguistic form to a changing centre of person, place and time. It makes intelligible the coordination through which here or tomorrow acquires a referent. Its focus on linguistic pointing gives it a specific role within indexicality and supports deictic projection.

Colours and admission grounds

The rectangular label identifies the entry function: F – linguistic figure or procedure; A – analytical concept; G – foundational concept; E – selected concrete case. The rounded badge indicates the admission ground: R1 – distinctive contribution; R2 – necessary foundation; R3 – justified illustrative case. This editorial rationale explains the current selection rather than claiming an undocumented original selection history.

Explanation

Deixis is linguistic pointing. Expressions such as “I”, “you”, “here”, “there”, “now”, and “tomorrow” do not carry a reference that remains constant across situations; they become determinate only relative to a deictic centre. This centre minimally includes speaker, time, and place, but may also involve social roles and perceptually available objects. Deixis thus exposes a fundamental property of language: meaning is not wholly stored in an expression but arises through the coordinated orientation of participants. In narrative and reported speech, the centre can be shifted, inviting readers to adopt another person's location or viewpoint.

Movement of thought

1. An expression points without fully naming its referent. 2. Participants locate the relevant centre of person, place, and time. 3. A possible referent is identified relative to that centre. 4. A change of speaker or narrative level shifts the assignment. 5. Understanding now appears as joint orientation rather than mere decoding.

Scientific use case

Conversational or narrative corpora can be annotated for deictic expressions, their centres, and shifts between centres. Errors or delays in reference resolution reveal which contextual information a particular deictic dimension actually requires.

Example

On a railway platform on Monday, a traveller tells her companion, “I will meet you here tomorrow.” Person, day, and place can be recovered only from their shared situation.

Counterexample

“Maria arrives in Berlin on 20 August” can largely be resolved without knowing the place and time of utterance. “I will meet you here tomorrow” cannot.

Distinction

Distinguish deixis from anaphora and stable reference. Anaphoric expressions typically depend on linguistically introduced material, whereas proper names or dates may carry a more stable reference without relying on the current deictic centre.

Effect on thought and perception

Deixis anchors language in bodies, places, and times and makes perspective a grammatically and pragmatically consequential dimension.

Resonance

The pointing expression and the shared situation answer one another; only their conjunction allows a determinate referent to emerge.

Cite this entry

Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Deixis“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-PRA-0001. ATLAS 260, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-PRA-0001

https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-PRA-0001

The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.

Historical background

Sapir’s 1921 comparison asks what a sentence may leave unexpressed about the positions of speaker, listener and referent. His account of demonstrative elaboration makes clear that apparently simple reference can require a choice of viewpoint and spatial relation. This is a historical conceptual witness for deixis, not evidence that Sapir introduced the modern English term in this passage. The examples are his descriptions of particular languages and need modern checking before being reused as current field data. Their analytical force lies in exposing a habit of the reader: information that English may omit in a particular sentence need not be optional in the same way elsewhere. The Atlas should not extend this observation into the claim that speakers cannot perceive relations for which their grammar has no obligatory marker. The history of deixis requires both the learned label’s own transmission and the later expansion of its uses beyond spatial demonstration; neither is fully documented by this single witness.

How conceptual history changes the analysis

Deictic reference is jointly determined by form and situation.

References for the historical section

  • Edward Sapir, Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech (1921) · Chapter V, demonstrative elaboration relative to speaker, listener and visibility

    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.

Historical source evidence and Atlas applications remain separate; this import does not assert new first attestations or a fresh exhaustive source verification.