Deixis Exercise [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

I. 1. If Wyat Earpp meets Doc Holliday in Dodge City and says, “ This town ain’t big enough for the both of us”, what does this town refer to” 2. If a television news reporter, speaking in Fresno, California, says, “ This town was shaken by a major earth tremor at 5 a.m today”, what does this town refer to” 3. If, on November 3rd 1983, I say, “Everything seemed to go wrong yesterday?”, what day am I picking out by the word yesterday? 4. If, on May 4th 1983, my daughter says to me, “Yesterday wasn’t my birthday”, what day am I picking out by the word yesterday? 5. To summarize in a general statement, what day does yesterday refer to? II. Are the following words deictic? 1. Here

2. Wednesday

3. Place

4. Today

5. You

III. Look at the utterances and decide whether the speaker gives indication of his location and if so, where he is (isn’t). 1. “Go to the hospital” Yes/ No…………………………………………………………………………................ 2.

“The astronauts are going back to Earth” Yes/ No…………………………………………………………………………................

3. “Please don’t bring food into the bathroom” Yes/ No…………………………………………………………………………................ 4. “Can you take this plate into the kitchen for me?” Yes/ No…………………………………………………………………………................

IV. 1. If I say to you, “ Come over there, please!” while pointing to far corner of the room (i.e. far from both of us), could reasonably infer that I intend to move to that corner of the room as well? Yes/ no 2. In this instance, would it seem correct to say that the word come (i.e. is come in this case ‘stretched’ to include ‘toward where the speaker will be’)? Yes/ no 3. If I say to you, over the telephone, “Can I come and see you some time?” do I probably have in mind a movement to the place where I am, or to the place where you are? Yes/ no V. 1. If Mary said (truthfully) “Mummy, Peter hit me”, when did Peter hit Mary, before or, at, or after the time of Mary’s utterance?

…………………………………………………………………………………………… 2. If Mary said (truthfully) “Mummy, Peter is writing on the wall”, when is Peter committing this misdemeanour, before or, at, or after the time of Mary’s utterance? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. If I say (truthfully) “I am going to write a letter to the President”, when do I write to the President? …………………………………………………………………………………………… 4. In each of the following utterances, what can you deduce about the date of the utterance? a. “I first met my wife in the year 1993” ……………………………………………………………………………………………

b. “The 1936 Olympic Game will be held in Berlin” …………………………………………………………………………………………… VI. Is there anything wrong with the following sentences in terms of deixis? 1. Do you still remember when we studied at a university? 2. Hi, do come into a building! 3. A: I gave the man some advice because he asked for it B: Whom do you mean? 4. Please don’t smoke in a room. It’s mine. 5. A man sitting in the corner is my uncle.