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  1. deixis love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The function of a deictic word in specifying its referent in a given context.

Wiktionary

  1. n. linguistics A reference within a sentence that relies on the context being known to interpret correctly.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Grammar) the function or operation of a deictic word; the function of pointing or specifying from the perspective of a participant in an act of speech or writing; aspects of a communication whose interpretation depends on knowledge of the context in which the communication occurs.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the function of pointing or specifying from the perspective of a participant in an act of speech or writing; aspects of a communication whose interpretation depends on knowledge of the context in which the communication occurs

Etymologies

  1. From Ancient Greek δείξις (deixis, "pointing,” “indicating,” “reference"), from δείκνυμι (deiknumi, "I show"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Greek, display, demonstrative reference, from deiknunai, to show; see deik- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The difference between Doggerel and Motherese is clearest when it comes to deixis, which is the technical name for sentences that point out specific bits of information, such as “This is a ball” or “That cup is red.””

    Simon & Schuster: How to Speak Dog

  • “Old IE *sa was a definite *article*, neutral in deixis, like English 'the'.”

    Nipping the PIE ergative *-s theory right in the bud

  • “Despite any focus-derailing suppositions, my reference has clearly shown that the Korean nominative case marker, stripped of any nuance of deixis or definiteness, is still etymologically traced back to a demonstrative.”

    Nipping the PIE ergative *-s theory right in the bud

  • “These cues are a result of the combination of two levels of language: The semantic principle of deixis and the use of certain types of grammatical Adjunct.”

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  • “The demonstrative words 'That' and 'those' express physical orientation in language by pointing to where the speaker is situated relative to other entities specified in the sentence. (deixis).”

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows

  • “This question is closely related to that of the temporal deixis of”

    PhilGons.com

  • “It was a brilliant course (two days of the science of language: what’s not to love?) but it’s harder to enjoy when you’ve only had four-and-a-half hours sleep and then you have to talk about ‘lexical vs deixis constructions’ or ‘M4M (hand and mouth are different) mouth gestures’.”

    Embarrassing crushes « Sven’s guide to…

  • “I get dizzy at these lofty heights) and am sending down everything that I can possibly get away with because, let’s face it, all the lexical vs deixis constructions in the world aren’t as exciting as a fit man calling into the office.”

    Embarrassing crushes « Sven’s guide to…

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. indexicality

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. semantics
  1. exophora

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. deictic

tags (2)

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  1. language
  1. linguistics

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Comments

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  • jmjarmstrong JM here, now, knows this and tells you – deixis rules! Mar 2, 2009

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‘deixis’ has been looked up 4063 times, loved by 5 people, added to 25 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 14.