Demonstratif

Demonstratif, or demonstrative, is a term in linguistics for a deictic expression that identifies a referent in discourse by its distance from the speaker or from the time of speaking. Demonstratives can function as determiners (demonstrative adjectives that accompany a noun) or as stand-alone pronouns. They encode information about proximity or reference, such as near the speaker (proximal) or far from the speaker (distal), and in some languages they also encode additional distinctions related to discourse continuity or visibility. Many languages employ more than a simple near/far contrast, using three-way or four-way systems and varying in gender- and number-specific forms.

Across languages, demonstratives play a central role in pointing to entities within the communicative context and can be used both to modify nouns and to replace them. They interact with the grammatical system of each language, often showing agreement with the noun in gender and number when they appear as determiners, and appearing in distinct forms as pronouns. Demonstratives are a core part of deixis, the linguistic mechanism that anchors expressions to the speaker’s perspective and the situational context. They also appear in anaphoric use, where a demonstrative refers back to something previously mentioned in the discourse.

Examples include English this/these (proximal) and that/those (distal); French ce/cet/cette/ces as determiners and celui/celle/ceux as pronouns; Spanish este/esta/estos/estas and ese/esa/esos/esas, with aquel/aquella/aquellos/aquellas used for farther reference. The specific forms and rules for their use vary by language, reflecting a wide diversity of systems for encoding reference and spatial or discourse distance.