What is discourse deixis?

Definition
	Discourse deixis is deictic reference to a portion of a discourse relative to the speaker's current “location” in the discourse.

Examples (English)

Use of this to refer to a story one is about to tell in:

I bet you haven’t heard this story.
Reference to Chapter 7 of a book by means of in the next chapter or in the previous chapter, depending on whether the reference is made from Chapter 6 or 8.
Use of this in a creaky-voiced utterance of:

This is what phoneticians call a creaky voice.

Source:

Levinson 1983 63, 85

Kinds
	Here are some kinds of discourse deixis:
	What is switch reference? What is token-reflexive deixis?

Generic
	Discourse deixis is a kind of
	What is deixis?

Sources
	Levinson 1983 62–63, 85, 89
	Lyons 1977b 667–668

Context for this page:

Concept module: discourse deixis
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): D
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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