deíxis

Deixis refers to words or phrases whose meaning depends on the context in which they are used. These words, known as indexicals, point to specific elements within the communicative situation, such as the speaker, the listener, the time of utterance, or the location of the utterance. The interpretation of a deixis term is therefore relative to the context.

There are several common types of deixis. Personal deixis refers to the participants in the conversation, typically with pronouns like "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," and "we." Temporal deixis relates to the time of the utterance, using words such as "now," "then," "yesterday," and "tomorrow." Spatial or demonstrative deixis indicates location or direction, employing words like "here," "there," "this," and "that." Verbal deixis can also be considered, as in verb tenses that indicate relative time.

The study of deixis is crucial in linguistics, particularly in pragmatics, the study of language use. Understanding deixis helps explain how speakers and listeners establish shared understanding and navigate the social and physical environment through language. Without context, deixis can be ambiguous or meaningless. For example, the utterance "I am here now" has no specific meaning until we know who "I" is, where "here" is, and when "now" is. Deixis highlights the inherently social and situational nature of communication.