Spatial Deixis And Subjectivity Of Language

This paper studies how the subjectivity feature of language can be expressed by spatial deixis from a cross-linguistic point of view. It mainly focuses on two levels of the language: daily conversation and semantic parameters. In the daily conversational use of spatial deictics, the speaker's perspective and affect fully embody the subjectivity feature, which can also be seen from the semantic description of spatial deictics.On this basis, the author applies the conceptualization in cognitive linguistics to explain the subjectivity of language in these two correlative levels: the human being's cognitive ability bridges the language and the external world. Semantic parameters of spatial deictics reflect speakers'cognitive demarcation of their own conceptual territory and interaction with the external world,which manifests the process of conceptualization. Spatial recognition is deeply rooted in the speaker's autonomous interpretation of the world or conceptual interactions with the world, not in a static and passive manner. In the canonical situation of utterance, it is the conceptualization that manipulates the speakers to apply the internal conceptual knowledge to the external world by the use of spatial deictics. The speakers adjust their anchoring points and project their deictic centers in order to share emotion or attitude with the addressee and to make the conversation proceed effectively,which represents the subjectivity of the language.Under the frame of conceptualization, our discussions of spatial deictics and the subjectivity of language attest that the subjective feature of languages not only can be found resources in pragmatics, but also traced back in the language system.