ukazovací

Ukazovací is a term used in linguistics, particularly in Czech grammar, to denote words that point to a referent and indicate its proximity or order in discourse. In English they are called demonstratives. They function as both determiners and pronouns, helping to identify which person, object, or idea is being discussed.

In Czech, ukazovací words are categorized as ukazovací zájmena (demonstrative pronouns) and ukazovací přídavná jména (demonstrative adjectives). As adjectives they agree with the noun in gender, number, and case (for example, tento dům — this house). As pronouns they stand alone and decline similarly (e.g., tento; ten). They encode spatial or temporal relations such as proximity (this/these) or distance (that/those) and can be used to distinguish reference in discourse.

Common forms cover singular and plural and different gender. Useful examples include:

- tento dům (this house), tato žena (this woman), toto dítě (this child)

- ten dům (that house), ta žena (that woman), to dítě (that child)

- tyto knihy (these books)

Ukazovací words are deictic elements that anchor discourse by pointing to entities within the speaker’s contextual field. They contrast with other determiners by signaling proximity or distance rather than merely identifying the noun. In addition to Czech, demonstratives exist in many languages and share the basic function of indexing referents in space, time, or discourse, while varying in form and inflection.

See also: demonstrative pronouns, demonstrative adjectives, deixis.