Deixis, anaphora, and discourse

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

Before beginning this study, it is essential to review the research already done in the areas of deixis, participant reference, and discourse. This chapter reviews the pertinent literature.

2.1 Deixis, anaphora, and discourse

Anderson and Keenan 1985 give a typological context for deictics in all languages. While languages vary in the number of deictic expressions available, all languages do have a way of encoding I and you, as well as here and there. The classic dimensions that deixis covers are spatial location, person, and time. While deixis and anaphora are related, Lambrecht provides a clear way of distinguishing the two. He states that discourse is divided into two parts 1994:36-7, the TEXT - EXTERNAL WORLD and the TEXT - INTERNAL WORLD . He defines the text-external world as comprised of 1 speech participants and 2 speech setting, i.e. the place, time, and circumstances in which a speech event takes place 1994:36. Lambrecht 1994:38 states, “Deictic expressions allow a speaker to directly designate elements of the text- external world by ‘pointing’ to them.” With these deictic terms, the speaker provides a 10 point of orientation from which an addressee can interpret and relate the given expression. Anaphoric expressions are used to relate something in the text-internal world, which consists of “linguistic expressions and their meaning” Lambrecht 1994:37, to a discourse representation of a referent, such as she, it, they. Many researchers have shown that deixis may give information on numerous levels not just about location, time, and person and often work in conjunction with anaphoric expressions. One level where deixis may operate is to give information on whether one referent is more important than another, what Kirsner calls ‘noteworthiness’ 1979:360. Researchers working in a variety of languages have found evidence of deictics marking certain participants as more prominent Barr 1979, Herring 1994, Lothers 1996. Additionally, deictics may be used to differentiate between information that is new or more accessible, and relate to how far back within a text a referent was used, all of which relate to givenness Givón 1983, Kirsner 1979, Prince 1981, Gundel et al. 1993, Herring 1994. Finally, deixis may indicate whether a participant is performing an important action and is therefore foregrounded Barr 1979, Kirsner 1979, Lothers 1996.

2.2 Participant referencing approaches