usthose

Usthose is a fictional term used in speculative linguistics to describe a particular class of deictic expressions. In this usage, usthose behaves like a pronoun that simultaneously anchors reference to a discourse-defined group and to specific participants within the current conversational context. The term is typically introduced in analyses intended to explore how speakers track group membership and perspective in dialogue, rather than as an established feature of natural languages.

Etymology: The term is a neologism formed from the pronouns “us” and the demonstrative “those,” intended to signal a hybrid sense of inclusive proximity and distal reference. It was proposed in academic fiction and later cited in hypothetical cross-language contrasts.

Characteristics: Usthose, as described in fictional accounts, shows several properties. It functions as a single marker for a set of referents identified in the ongoing discourse. It can combine with verbs and adjectives as if a pronoun, with allowable case or grammatical agreement in some imagined grammars. Its distribution is said to vary across languages in ways that mirror other demonstratives and indexicals, including potential sensitivity to speaker perspective, addressee focus, and discourse topic.

Usage and examples: In example sentences, “Usthose agreed to the plan” uses usthose to refer to a subset of actors already introduced in the conversation. The expression is primarily used in theoretical discussions rather than in practical language data, and serves to illustrate how discourse indexing might be modeled.

See also: demonstratives, indexicals, deictic expressions, discourse markers, pronouns.