A Study Of Relative Indexical In Chinese

Indexical is used to denote an object in the objective world. In speech act, when the listener try to associate the indexical with the object denoted, sometimes it can be identified by the indexical itself while in other times by certain contexts. What I am researching is the dependent indexical which can fulfill their functions only with the help of some reference. These words are separated from the independent absolute indexicals, so I call them relative indexicals.In past researches on indexical, none of them can define the boundaries between different kinds of indexicals clearly from the point of view of referring's generation. Beginning from the meaning of the indexical, I find out that words as the names of a certain object, groups of objects and abstract conceptions can simultaneously play the role of indexical. When they are used as indexicals, there lies uncertainty in some meanings of the words concerning generality and refernce. This uncertainty is due to the inadequacy of word meanings themselves, which have to rely on some references to denote an object to the listener. That is to say, the word meanings of relative indexical, which lack some semantic elements, cannot completely summarize our understanding of an object. Thus in the semantic structure of relative index, there exists a blank. Through an analysis of reference words, I divide relative index into two types: deixis and absent relative indexical.Even inside the relative indexicals, there exists differencee between different groups of indexicals. In order to measure their relativity, I introduce the idea of accessibility. Transferring the past researches on accessibility to relative referring, according to different points of reference, I respectively list a continuum in both two types and illustrate reversely that accessibility is also an important standard in selecting the index, ie. when hearing a certain word, the listener identify an object thought the accessibility of word meanings, while in speaking the speaker try to select a certain indexical through the accessibility for the listener. Therefore, the relativity of an indexical can be changed by altering its accessibility in the purpose of pragmatics. Hence, I conclude that relative indexical not only has compacts on the coherence of parole and elimination of ambiguity, also tends to encourage listeners and readers to pay more interpretation efforts for extra overtones with its change in accessibility. Moreover, the nature of dependence on contexts of relative indexical can be seen in those independent absolute indexicals to a certain degree as well. So the research on relative indexical has a positive effect on the whole referring issue.