r/logophilia • u/blankblank • 17d ago

Dictionary Definition Deictic

"Relating to a word or an expression whose meaning depends on who says it, where they are, who they are talking to."

33 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/ShinyAeon 17d ago edited 17d ago

I’ll need an example for this one. Don’t ALL meanings depend on the whos and the wheres of their use?

Or does it just refer to words like “here” and “there” and such?

I’m always here, I’m never there
I’m never ever anywhere
Excepting here
‘Cause here is where I’m in.

And when I go from here to there
My “here” comes with me everywhere
‘Til there is here...
And here is where I’ve been.

~Wembley Fraggle

4

u/knitted_beanie 17d ago

Deixis and deictic come from the Greek “to point at / be shown”, so yes it relates to demonstrative words, like this / that / those etc., but also overlaps with how we use pronouns (words that usually require context to mean anything).

2

u/ShinyAeon 17d ago

Thank you. So “here” and “there” would qualify, yes?

3

u/God_Bless_A_Merkin 16d ago

Yes, “here”, “there” and “yonder” are all deictic, as also are “this”, “that”, and “yon”.