Deixis

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

The linguistic phenomenon whereby certain words and expressions ('here', 'there', 'now', 'then', 'I', 'you', 'this', 'that') derive their meaning from context — specifically the time, place, or person of utterance

History and origin

From Greek deiknunai (to show, to point); studied by Karl Bühler and later systematised by Charles Fillmore

Examples

• The word 'now' is a deictic expression because its reference shifts depending on when it is uttered.
• Personal deixis ('I', 'you'), spatial deixis ('here', 'there'), and temporal deixis ('yesterday', 'tomorrow') are the three main types.

Synonyms: indexicality, deictic expression